Switched ports?

[JimL]

I saw a wireless router described as having some ports and some switched
ports.

Is there an English way to describe the difference or something ... ? Are
switched ports ports you can click a witch to turn them off? Or are they
more like switching power supplies? Doesn't matter. I don't really know
what that means either.

Thanks

 

[Paul]

I saw a wireless router described as having some ports and some switched
ports.

Is there an English way to describe the difference or something ... ? Are
switched ports ports you can click a witch to turn them off? Or are they
more like switching power supplies? Doesn't matter. I don't really know
what that means either.

Thanks

Could you give a URL or web page where you saw this ? That
makes it easier to answer the question.

Paul

 

[JimL]

Could you give a URL or web page where you saw this ? That
makes it easier to answer the question.

Paul

Oh dear, oh dear! Oh dear me! Where did I see switched ports? I keep
thinking these things will be general knowledge so things like brands and
sources don't enter into it. Apparently "switched port" is electronic
gobbledegook, making the question moot.

 

[JimL]

Could you give a URL or web page where you saw this ? That
makes it easier to answer the question.

Paul

Well, I Googled "switched ports" +router and got 16,000 hits. None of the
first few pages were marked as "visited."

Thanks

 

[Paul]

Well, I Googled "switched ports" +router and got 16,000 hits. None of the
first few pages were marked as "visited."

Thanks

This is some stuff I dug up last night.

*******

There is a basic networking slide set here.

http://www.hawaii.edu/its/brownbags-trainings/downloads/Basic_Networking.pdf

page 10 "Hub"
page 12 "Switch"
page 14 "Router"

As far as I know, the "Switch" uses MAC addresses, and learns what each
port has on it as far as a MAC address is concerned. That is how it
does a better job than a hub, by only sending the packet to the most likely
port with that MAC address.

You can get a bit more terminology from here, and some description
of how a switch learns where to send a packet. "Switched ports" may
be referring to Layer 2 switching.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_switch

This is an example of a switch chip. One of the applications
described, is to use the switch chip, as part of a router box.
So maybe at least some part of the operation of a router,
is actually done by a switch chip.

http://www.micrel.com/_PDF/Ethernet/ks8995ma_pb.pdf#page=1

Because Ethernet is mature, it is unlikely you'd get more
detail than that. Maybe a datasheet would go into more detail.

HTH,
Paul

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]> "JimL"

Oh dear, oh dear! Oh dear me! Where did I see switched ports? I keep
thinking these things will be general knowledge so things like brands and
sources don't enter into it. Apparently "switched port" is electronic
gobbledegook, making the question moot.

No, it has a specific technical meaning, although it's almost impossible
to find a consumer grade NAT box ("router") without switched ports these
days so it's not something all devices advertise.

Way back in the day we had hubs and switches, with the difference
between that hubs tended to be fairly dumb and sent all packets to all
ports, whereas switches were smarter and kept track of MAC addresses
connected to each port, only sending traffic to the correct port, so
generally switches performed better.

Switches were substantially more expensive too, once upon a time. These
days, switches are so cheap that no one uses hubs anymore, even the
bargain basement $10 hubs tend to be cheap switches.

 

[JimL]

In message <[email protected]> "JimL"

No, it has a specific technical meaning, although it's almost impossible
to find a consumer grade NAT box ("router") without switched ports these
days so it's not something all devices advertise.

Way back in the day we had hubs and switches, with the difference
between that hubs tended to be fairly dumb and sent all packets to all
ports, whereas switches were smarter and kept track of MAC addresses
connected to each port, only sending traffic to the correct port, so
generally switches performed better.

Switches were substantially more expensive too, once upon a time. These
days, switches are so cheap that no one uses hubs anymore, even the
bargain basement $10 hubs tend to be cheap switches.

So in all likelyhood the desriptions themselves have been around long enough
to warrant replacing.

Thanks

 

[JimL]

This is some stuff I dug up last night.

*******

There is a basic networking slide set here.

http://www.hawaii.edu/its/brownbags-trainings/downloads/Basic_Networking.pdf

page 10 "Hub"
page 12 "Switch"
page 14 "Router"

As far as I know, the "Switch" uses MAC addresses, and learns what each
port has on it as far as a MAC address is concerned. That is how it
does a better job than a hub, by only sending the packet to the most
likely
port with that MAC address.

You can get a bit more terminology from here, and some description
of how a switch learns where to send a packet. "Switched ports" may
be referring to Layer 2 switching.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_switch

This is an example of a switch chip. One of the applications
described, is to use the switch chip, as part of a router box.
So maybe at least some part of the operation of a router,
is actually done by a switch chip.

http://www.micrel.com/_PDF/Ethernet/ks8995ma_pb.pdf#page=1

Because Ethernet is mature, it is unlikely you'd get more
detail than that. Maybe a datasheet would go into more detail.

HTH,
Paul

Thanks