Currently, networks are essential for supporting businesses and providing communication, and this need increased during the pandemic. A fundamental element that networks have in common is the Switch, which helps to connect devices in order to share resources, especially between a large number of devices.
Switch, then, has the ability to increase network performance, since communication is always available, thus avoiding a data collision in the network, especially when these are congested.
Switches facilitate the sharing of resources by connecting all devices – computers, printers, servers – in a small business network, being a high-speed device. Thus, the Switch allows the sharing of information between them, regardless of their location, that is, what this device does, in short, is to receive incoming data packets and redirect them to their destination in a Local Area Network.
Likewise, Switch allows you to open or close a call. When open, the switch allows a signal to flow across the link. If closed, the Switch interrupts the flow and connection of the circuit. They can also limit traffic to and from each port so that each connected device has a sufficient amount of bandwidth. However, switches do not provide a firewall.
Explaining the functioning of a Switch, when it receives information on a certain port, it transmits it through all the other ports, except for the one that received the information first (called flood). Then, the switches register the MAC address of the devices that are connected to each equipment port. However, if an Ethernet network (technology that connects wired LANs) is present, the Switch does not need to propagate the information across all ports as it is sent directly based on the information in the Switch’s MAC table, to the respective destination.
How does everything work? The Switch works at the Data Link layer of the OSI model—Layer 2. It receives packets that are sent by devices that are connected to their physical ports, and sends them back, but only through the ports that lead to the devices that the packets get aim to achieve. They can also operate in the network layer – Layer 3 where it is forwarded.
This technology is often compared to the Router, which allows networked devices and multiple users to access the Internet. Additionally, the Router directs traffic and chooses the most efficient route for information, in the form of packets and data, to move through a network. This device is intelligent in that it protects company information from possible security threats and also decides which devices have priority over others. Likewise, while the Switch sends data to a single device it is intended for, the Router sends to networks of multiple devices.
This means that Routers are crucial for an Internet connection, whereas Switches are used exclusively for interconnecting devices.
There are two types of switches, managed and unmanaged:
- The unmanaged ones, considered as the most basic, create ports in the Local Area Network, in order to allow access to the Internet from more local devices. However, they have few features, which does not always allow them to respond to the need. Furthermore, they were designed so that there was no need for configuration.
- The managed ones, in turn, fulfill the same function, but for much larger networks, offering network administrators greater control over how traffic is prioritized, that is, they have more features, and advanced, and have greater security, protecting all types of traffic, as they can be configured to adapt to a given network.
Aware of the importance of data networks and wireless networks, ActiveSys has a team of professionals certified in the technologies of renowned networking manufacturers who develop the strategy according to customer needs, design the architecture and implement the solutions in the area of networks . Do not hesitate to contact us, we are available for you.