Network Terminolgy for Dummies

[TLARWise]

I have just been asked by a member of our IT department if I could describe the difference between a hub, switch and a router in such a way that low ability secondary school kids might beable to understand. Now I am not very good when it comes to describing things to start with so am hoping you good edugeekers will beable to give me a few ideas. Does this come up in primary schools as this is probably the level we are looking at.

[detjo]

Hub - a device that allow computers on the same network to talk to each other by 'shouting' so all computers can hear all computers

Switch - a device that allow computers on the same network to talk to each quietly and intelligently, so only the computers that are talking to each other can hear the conversation

Router - a device that allows computers on different networks to talk to each other

[si289]

Hub - a device that allow computers on the same network to talk to each other by 'shouting' so all computers can hear all computers

Switch - a device that allow computers on the same network to talk to each quietly and intelligently, so only the computers that are talking to each other can hear the conversation

Router - a device that allows computers on different networks to talk to each other

 

I think this sums it up perfectly... Only addition I can think of, maybe make a reference to networks being like classrooms?

[sonofsanta]

You're all sat in a classroom. You want to get a message to your friend Mike.

 

If you had a hub, you'd have to get up and ask the teacher to write the message on the whiteboard with Mike's name in front of it. Everyone would see it, and it'd get very busy when everyone wanted to talk to their own friend. The teacher is the hub in this instance.

 

If you had a pen and paper, you could write your message down on a bit of paper, fold it up and write your friends name on the outside then pass it to the teacher. Your teacher would then pass it on to Mike (if they recognise the name e.g. the address). No-one else needs to see your message and it goes straight to Mike. The teacher is a switch.

 

If the teacher didn't recognise Mike's name, they'd stand up and ask "who's Mike?". Mike would answer, and then the message could be passed on. The teacher would now know who Mike was for any future messages. This is how switches use broadcasts to locate unknown hosts.

 

If your friend is in another classroom, you could pass the message to the teacher on a piece of paper and they could email it over to another teacher in the correct classroom to pass the message on. The teachers are both routers here.

 

If your teacher didn't know where your friend was, they could email out to all teachers asking "who has Mike in their class?" and they would all reply with "not me", "not me" or "I do" - i.e. route discovery. Once someone has replied with "I do" the message can be passed along directly, going an extra hop as it passes through a second teacher to get to your friend Mike (which you could show with a traceroute). If another message needs sending to Mike in the other classroom, your teacher (the router) already knows what route it needs to take.

 

 

Not bad for only one cup of tea in, if I do say so myself

[detjo]

You're all sat in a classroom. You want to get a message to your friend Mike.

 

If you had a hub, you'd have to get up and ask the teacher to write the message on the whiteboard with Mike's name in front of it. Everyone would see it, and it'd get very busy when everyone wanted to talk to their own friend. The teacher is the hub in this instance.

 

If you had a pen and paper, you could write your message down on a bit of paper, fold it up and write your friends name on the outside then pass it to the teacher. Your teacher would then pass it on to Mike (if they recognise the name e.g. the address). No-one else needs to see your message and it goes straight to Mike. The teacher is a switch.

 

If the teacher didn't recognise Mike's name, they'd stand up and ask "who's Mike?". Mike would answer, and then the message could be passed on. The teacher would now know who Mike was for any future messages. This is how switches use broadcasts to locate unknown hosts.

 

If your friend is in another classroom, you could pass the message to the teacher on a piece of paper and they could email it over to another teacher in the correct classroom to pass the message on. The teachers are both routers here.

 

If your teacher didn't know where your friend was, they could email out to all teachers asking "who has Mike in their class?" and they would all reply with "not me", "not me" or "I do" - i.e. route discovery. Once someone has replied with "I do" the message can be passed along directly, going an extra hop as it passes through a second teacher to get to your friend Mike (which you could show with a traceroute). If another message needs sending to Mike in the other classroom, your teacher (the router) already knows what route it needs to take.

This could be made into a good 'practical exercise' for them to do

[mac_shinobi]

You're all sat in a classroom. You want to get a message to your friend Mike.

 

If you had a hub, you'd have to get up and ask the teacher to write the message on the whiteboard with Mike's name in front of it. Everyone would see it, and it'd get very busy when everyone wanted to talk to their own friend. The teacher is the hub in this instance.

 

If you had a pen and paper, you could write your message down on a bit of paper, fold it up and write your friends name on the outside then pass it to the teacher. Your teacher would then pass it on to Mike (if they recognise the name e.g. the address). No-one else needs to see your message and it goes straight to Mike. The teacher is a switch.

 

If the teacher didn't recognise Mike's name, they'd stand up and ask "who's Mike?". Mike would answer, and then the message could be passed on. The teacher would now know who Mike was for any future messages. This is how switches use broadcasts to locate unknown hosts.

 

If your friend is in another classroom, you could pass the message to the teacher on a piece of paper and they could email it over to another teacher in the correct classroom to pass the message on. The teachers are both routers here.

 

If your teacher didn't know where your friend was, they could email out to all teachers asking "who has Mike in their class?" and they would all reply with "not me", "not me" or "I do" - i.e. route discovery. Once someone has replied with "I do" the message can be passed along directly, going an extra hop as it passes through a second teacher to get to your friend Mike (which you could show with a traceroute). If another message needs sending to Mike in the other classroom, your teacher (the router) already knows what route it needs to take.

 

 

Not bad for only one cup of tea in, if I do say so myself

 

The email parts - just wondering if you could substitute this for the teacher walking ( equivalent to sending the data in this case the note or whatever ) as the sending of an email requires routing and other things ( Although might be me just being pedantic etc ) but otherwise yes very good for only having a cuppa tea !!!

[sonofsanta]

The email parts - just wondering if you could substitute this for the teacher walking ( equivalent to sending the data in this case the note or whatever ) as the sending of an email requires routing and other things ( Although might be me just being pedantic etc ) but otherwise yes very good for only having a cuppa tea !!!

 

I did wonder if mentioning email might confuse the issue, but walking down the corridor makes it difficult to explain the "ask everyone where Mike is" part - you don't want to say the teacher goes to the staff room and asks, because that implies a centralised structure that isn't necessarily true, and you don't want to walk round each classroom in turn and ask because you don't want to imply a serial method of discovery - the message needs to go out to all teachers at the same time.

[mac_shinobi]

I did wonder if mentioning email might confuse the issue, but walking down the corridor makes it difficult to explain the "ask everyone where Mike is" part - you don't want to say the teacher goes to the staff room and asks, because that implies a centralised structure that isn't necessarily true, and you don't want to walk round each classroom in turn and ask because you don't want to imply a serial method of discovery - the message needs to go out to all teachers at the same time.

 

Maybe they could check the time table for that student on the teachers computer to establish where said student will be ie in which class room and to get the data ( note or whatever ) sent to that student directly. The time table for the student would be like the router looking at the routing table or learning new routes to add to the routing table of where the end device is in this case Mike or which ever student ) ??

 

Just a thought - not sure if SIMS Can do the students time tables ( for current / existing time tables ) so this would indicate he / she is doing Maths or whatever subject and from there which teacher is teaching that student and can go from there with regards to going to the relevant department and can narrow the search down as you just need to find which teacher is teaching that student and go from there

 

Failing that going to receptionist as the receptionist could maybe establish the above info ?

 

Yes you are correct in saying what you said - would either the receptionist or the electronic system be like DNS to translate the student name into a location of where the student should be - assuming said student is onsite at school on said day ??

Edited October 18, 2013 by mac_shinobi

[sonofsanta]

There's a danger of overcomplicating it, I fear maybe each teacher having a walkie talkie so you don't mention email? Although you could also just say that each email message is equivalent to the OSPF packet... but that's starting to get into details above primary level as well.

[bladedanny]

If doing it as a practical, split the class up into two groups as two networks, assign one student per group to be the routers. A 'client' in one group passes the note to the 'router' in their group who then passes it to the other 'router'.

 

If you had enough students you could even have a switch assigned as well as a router then have students pass notes to each other via the network structure. This could also simulate busy networks etc and how data slows down the more you put through the network etc.

[wesleyw]

Teacher uses a Tannoy?

 

 

Wes