What are the physical components of a Computer Network?


There are various physical components of a computer network which are as follows −

NIC

NIC represents Network Interface Cards. A personal computer development board linked to a PC or server and works with the network control structure to force the network’s data stream. There are many network documentations that call NIC a network board. In this manner, all NICs are connected to a network.

Hub

A hub is a standard network point, also referred to as a network hub, to connect devices in a network. The hub has numerous ports. If a packet develops one port, it can be considered by all the network portion because a packet is duplicated to different port.

Switches

A switch is a hardware tool that filters and promotes folders between LAN segments. Switches make temporary point to point links between nodes on a network and send all information along with that link. Switches are best devices and move the data to the destined node.

Router

It is a particular type of device used to connect two or more subnets that cannot be similar. These devices support connectedness between two LANs or two WANs over a large geographical range. The router computes the best route from a sender to a receiver.

For this, they perform in a routing protocol to create the network topology, and the data thus gathered is used to evaluate routes. They work at the OSI model’s network layer and contain all the subnetworks differences up to this layer to support a uniform network service to the node’s transport layer entities.

Routers are generally a set of hardware and software. The hardware includes physical interfaces to various networks, while the software consists of operating systems and routing protocols. It can use both logical and physical transmitting to connect two or more logically removed networks.

Modem

Modem stands for Modulation Demodulation. A modem converts the digital data signals into analog data signals. It can be installed within the computer in a development slot available for it.

There are two types of Modems which are as follows −

  • Standard Modem − The standard modems need universal tool drivers, and they can be internal and external ones. The internal modems do not require physical mechanisms. The external modem is connected through one of the COM ports to the computer through a cable called a null-modem cable.

  • Window Modem − A window modem is a private plug and play tool. It needed a specific device driver provided by the window operating framework to function properly.

Updated on: 19-Nov-2021

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