What exactly is Ethernet?
Ethernet technology is meant to face the issues of packet collision in a network system by requiring network-connected devices to adhere to a set of rules that allow them to communicate with one another without interfering with one another. These networked devices are physically linked to an Ethernet switch through a cable, which then controls the data flow between endpoints, applications, data, cloud services, and the internet. Ethernet is the popular name for the IEEE 802.3 standard, which defines endpoint addressing, transmission rates, and medium, as well as when to send and what to do if a collision is discovered. IEEE 802.3 media standards are concerned with cable types (coaxial, twisted-pair, and fibre), bandwidth capacity (10 Mbps to Tbps), and transmission distance. Since its inception, Ethernet has grown tremendously, and it is now the de facto standard for IP-based networks and the internet. Ethernet switches are also becoming the most popular network switch type and most networks’ basic technology.
What is the difference between Ethernet and Wi-Fi?
Wi-Fi may be thought of as an Ethernet access network extension that allows wireless connections to an Ethernet network. Wi-Fi gives you the flexibility to move about without having to connect to the internet via a network wire. In terms of networking, Wi-Fi often necessitates the use of a wireless access point device to serve as the network’s interface. Instead of being linked directly to the switch via physical wire, the end module is interfaced to the access point, which is linked to, or is part of, the Ethernet switch. IEEE 802 standards describe Wi-Fi and Ethernet independently, with IEEE 802.3 defining Ethernet and IEEE 802.11 defining Wi-Fi.
What is an Ethernet switch?
Multi-device networks are created by physically connecting devices to one another using Ethernet switches, which you can discover through moxa switch components in Malaysia. Ethernet twisted-pair cable is one type of coaxial cable. An Ethernet switch manages data flow between devices, applications, data, cloud services, and the internet. Moving data from one switch port to another is called switching. The data is transferred in an Ethernet frame with the sender’s and receiver’s MAC addresses included.
To uniquely identify an Ethernet device, the connected switch employs a hardcoded physical address called a MAC address. Received Ethernet packets are stored in a MAC address database. The switch procedure then checks the MAC address table for the destination MAC address. If so, the switch forwards it to the known destination port. If not, the switch broadcasts the packet to all ports and waits. This is the case if the switch is directly linked to the destination device. This operation will be repeated till the frame reaches its destination.
An Ethernet switch can be as tiny as one in a home or as large as a terabit-per-second switch. Ethernet switches are classified as access, distribution, or core, depending on the network size or structure they are handling. Smaller switches connect to devices at the access edge, whereas larger switches operate as distribution switches, and finally larger switches act as core switches.
