How Networking Was Born
Networking
If you want your computer to talk to another computer (share data), you would want to use an ethernet cable to connect to that computer.
But what if a third PC would want to connect as well?
That’s where switches come in.
Switches
If a third PC wants to connect, instead of digging a new ethernet port in each PC and plugging an ethernet cable between each PC, you can just use a switch.
Here’s an exact representation of what you would feel if you had to connect 5 PCs without a switch...
So what is a switch?
A switch allows multiple devices to connect and communicate with each other, creating a central hub.
Switches allow two or more IT devices (PCs, Printers, Security Cameras, Servers…) to communicate with one another.
In short, they let other IT devices connect.
This entire setup of IT devices + a switch is called a network.
But even then, there’s a limit on how many devices a switch can handle.
The ASICs (an ASIC is a type of chip that is designed to do a specific task very efficiently) and the CPU of a switch has a limit on how many tasks per connection they can handle.
So if you were to connect a sixth PC to a switch that is only designed to handle five, you would experience performance degradation.
To mitigate this, you would introduce an additional switch into the network and distribute the PCs between them. This effectively creates a second network, also called a subnetwork.
By creating this additional subnetwork, you're distributing the traffic that would otherwise overload a single 5-port switch when connecting six, seven, or even eight PCs.
But here, another problem arises…
How does a PC on the original network communicate with a PC on the newly established subnetwork?
That is through routers.
Routers
To overcome the limitation of switches and enable communication between multiple networks, (in our case the original network and our subnetwork) routers are used.
A router is a device that connects different networks and allows data to be transferred between them. It acts as a central hub for connecting networks.
Think of a router as a traffic cop for computer networks. It helps direct information to the right place.
So, if a computer on our first network wants to talk to a computer on the second network, it asks the router to help send its message to the right computer.
The Internet
So now take this concept and x1000 it. This is what “the internet” really is.
It is a giant web of many devices and switches all over the world, with lots of "traffic cops" making sure information gets where it needs to go.
The Handy Box
But these days, for most people at home, you don't need separate devices like that anymore.
Instead, what you often have is a single box called a "router".
And beneath this “router”, it's the 2 different components that I had just explained to you plus one I left out, the WAP.
The WAP acts basically as a wireless switch.
The Router: Send your data to other networks, like the internet.
The Switch: Connect several wired devices in your home network, allowing them to communicate with each other.
A Wireless Access Point (WAP): Lets wireless devices like phones and laptops connect to your network without cables.
So instead of having a separate switch with lots of ports and a separate router to manage traffic between your home network and the internet, you have this one handy package that does it all.
If you had a big company with lots of devices, you might need a bigger, separate switch and more advanced routing equipment, that’s why they need network engineers.