Sorry, I somehow managed to entirely overlook your post. Let me see if I can answer your question.
computerjuvenile wrote on Oct 14
th, 2007 at 6:38pm:
Do you find it useful to even use switches? Switches only have one broadcast domain I believe, so in my class they recommend when you can just to use routers.
Routers and switches are entirely different beasts. They're typically used in conjunction with one another, and in most modern networks, having one is useless without the other.
A switch is just a glorified hub (the full name of a switch is a "switching hub") and it only serves to connect a bunch of devices together. It only has one broadcast domain (by default) because it only has one domain to interact with. Physically speaking, the switch
is the domain. Managed switches like the Cisco Catalyst and HP ProCurve can have multiple broadcast domains by using VLAN's (virtual LAN's), separating one group of ports from another.
A router, on the other hand, has at least two domains by its very definition. A router
routes packets from one domain to another. A bigger router like a Cisco 1700 series can route to three, four, even five domains through expansion ports.
A broadcast domain is just a logical network segment. When you connect your computer to a switch, any other device you can contact without going through a router (like another PC, a server, or a printer) is on the same broadcast domain. Routers strip out broadcast packets to reduce WAN traffic, so your packet leaves the broadcast domain when it passes through the router.
95% of the time, there is no reason to have more than one broadcast domain for a small/medium-sized network. Unless you're connecting multiple offices together in different geographical locations, you can use a single broadcast domain and cut down on your TCP overhead!
Quote:For that NIC that you showed that allows ethenet devices to connect like a router to a switch, you use a rollover cable right?
No, that WIC (WAN Interface Card) uses the same cabling as any other router. Rollover cables are only commonly used to connect to a console port. For instance, the cable that runs from the 1760's console port to a serial port adapter is a rollover cable.
Quote:Sorry I'm just a student, trying to learn.
Hey, we all have to learn somehow!
-b0b
(...hopes he's been helpful.)