[aclug-L] Re: Hub r VS Router

[Steven Saner <ssaner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

More information may be needed to give a complete answer on this. In
general, here is a description of the two.

A hub is a device that essentially connects multiple hosts together on
a single network. You simply run a cable from the hub to each host and
they are then connected. In order to connect to something outside of
your local network, you need to have a router plugged into the hub as
well, and that router is defined as your "default gateway" for the
network.

A router, then, is a device that connects two or more networks
together. When it gets an IP packet from one of the networks it
decides, based on the IP address, which network to send it to.

In the case of DSL, it depends on how your provider is provisioning
your service. Probably the most popular now days is PPPOE (PPP over
Ethernet). In this case you will need to have one device (either a PC
or a device made for this purpose) that can establish the PPP session
with the provider. This machine will have one ethernet port that
connects to the DSL modem. If you want more then one computer on the
network, then you will want this router box to have a second ethernet
port that plugs into a hub. All of your other PCs will then connect to
that hub as well.

Note 1: If you only want two PCs involved, you can get by without the
hub by using a cross-over cable between the two.

Note 2: There are devices out there that can be a router and hub all
in one.

So the answer to your questions is that you might need both, depending
on what you want to do. For the router component, you could either buy
a box designed for that purpose (Note 2 above), or you could build a
Linux box for that purpose. That Linux box could potentially be used
for other things as well.

Here is an ASCII diagram that might help.

                        Provider
                           |
                     +-----------+
                     | DSL Modem |
                     +-----------+
                           |
                     +-----------+
                     |   Router  |
                     +-----------+
                           |
                     +-----------+
                     |    Hub    |
                     +-----------+
                        |     |
            +-----------+     +-----------+
            |                             |
      +-----------+                 +-----------+
      |    PC     |                 |    PC     |
      +-----------+                 +-----------+


Again, the router could be one of the PCs, and you might not need a
hub if you only need to connect two hosts together.



On Mon, Jan 29, 2001 at 10:10:29AM -0800, Maverick wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
>   I would like to find a doucment or explaination 
> about the difference between a network hub and a
> router. If I have a DSL and more than one PC, do I
> need a hub or a router?
> 
> 
> Thanks all.
> 
> Regards,
> Mav
> 
> =====
> ~:~:~:~:~:~:~~:~:~:~:~:~:~~:~:~:~:~:~:~~:~:~:~:~:~:~~:~:~:~:~:~:~
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