Talk:Network switch
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[edit] Basic introduction missing
Sorry, but all I've really uunderstood from the entire article is that the thing is a computer gadget. But in plain English:
- What is it?
- Does every network have one?
- If your network doesn't have one of these what else might it have?
How does one remove the vandalism here, since it doesn't appear in the edit text? 207.99.73.226 19:10, 12 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Improvement drive
This page lacks any useful information or detail. I'm going to make it a bit arch-specific, because the ethernet switch article simply redirects here. If this is a problem, someone can turn it into a disambiguation page if nessicary later. -- Gamera2 02:27, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Switch Limitations Question
In the realm of very high-speed network switches, what is the limitation to higher bandwidth? I've seen Infiniband running at 10Gbps, why not 100Gbps? What's the limitation? -WikiNewbie —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.160.157.239 (talk • contribs) .
thats actually a limitation on standards and medium
Ethernet has yet to use Fiber nor Copper Cabling to reach such high speeds.
a Switch cannot support something until it exists\
[edit] Categories of Switches
Managed switches, Unmanaged switches, "Smart" switches. How do they differ? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 61.31.32.206 (talk • contribs) .
- Theese terms are cowered in marketing so exact definitions are hard but afaict the following are roughly correct.
- unmanaged switch --A switch with no administrative interface that just acts as a black box gathering information on locations and forwarding packets with port settings either fixed at the factory or set by autoconfiguration.
- managed switch --A switch which has various settings that can be changed and stats gathering capabilities with some kind of management interface to access those functions.
- smart switch --I haven't heared this term before but i suspect it reffers to mechanisms to limit the damage that miscreants can cause by automatically blocking suspicious behaviour but i don't know for sure. Plugwash 01:36, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Forwarding Method
Is the description of "Fragment Free" correct? I'm now aware of it checking the outgoing media. Fragment Free checks the first 64 bytes of a frame to ensure the frame is not a runt - a frame that collided with another frame and so transmission was stopped and the entire frame will be resent. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 138.162.128.42 (talk • contribs) .
[edit] Need Architecture Discussion.
This topic discusses the basic operation of a switch, but it does not provide a "frame" flow diagram. I came to this topic looking for a basic flow and to learn what the base module and child module is really called. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Rbmcnutt (talk • contribs) .
- Called by who? why do you assume there is a standard name? Plugwash 01:37, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Manufactures
Why not add the names of some companies that produce switches. Linksys, Cisco, Netgear, and the dozen or so others. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.128.46.234 (talk • contribs) .
- Because of the large number of companies that make switches I don't think it is necesary to add each one of them to this article. If it were only a handfull that did so, that might be different. Thoughts? N. Harmon 15:19, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
- My thoughts exactly, take a look at the router article for example, it's just out of control really. Adding a list of manufacturers opens up the article to abuse aswell (advertising). Sure a couple of companies could be mentioned in the article, but it should never get like the router article. --Bruce 08:59, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Picture
Is it relevant to have a picture of a monster rack of switches, rather than a simple 8 or 16-port switch? Compare Ethernet hub. aditsu 22:06, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
- Agreed if you have a picture of a simple switch handy put it here and shunt that monster rack off to multilayer switch. Plugwash 18:05, 25 February 2006 (UTC)
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- That "monster rack" is not a multilayer switch. It's a Cabletron Smartswitch 6000, which is an enterprise level piece of hardware but definitely not a multilayer switch. I assume the request is to put up a picture of a dumb switch which might be found in the typical home. I don't have an issue with this but I don't see that it's any more relevant to the topic than this picture of an enterprise level switch. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 138.162.128.42 (talk • contribs) .
- Ok i was mistaken, my searches and in particular [1] seem to confirm that the switch pictured isn't a multilayer one (it seems that it needs a separate router module which doesn't appear to be present in that photo). Plugwash 23:42, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Bridge vs Switch
Maybe the article could highlight the differences between "Switch" and "Bridge"? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.63.10.249 (talk • contribs).
[edit] Industry Analysis
This section simply makes no sense. It is very ungrammatical, but impossible to correct as its meaning and intention are obscure. Maybe somebody who knows what it's trying to say can help.
[edit] Heterogenous switch - fact or fiction?
The article currently claims that a switch can switch between token ring, FDDI and Ethernet. Those 3 nets have different MTUs, for one thing. Is anyone really doing this in practice, or do they all use routers? --Alvestrand 18:02, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
- I thought I'd mention a couple articles I came across while joining you on your quest. Take a look a the following documents [2] [3] which I found on cisco.com. I also quote the CCNA Companion Guide: "Bridges can also be used to connect dissimilar protocols and media". I however can't provide you with a well thought trough answer, perhaps I'll ask one of my professors. --Bruce 20:03, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
- Well 802.11 also technically supports larger packets than ethernet, its just not usually set up to use them so it can be bridged to ethernet. I'd imagine similar constraints would apply to interoperation between nodes on token ring and ethernet. Plugwash 23:32, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
- I picked up a hint in a rfc i was perusing that 802.1 may be relavent to this discussion but i haven't had a chance to read it yet. anyone feel like doing so? Plugwash 00:38, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
- Well 802.11 also technically supports larger packets than ethernet, its just not usually set up to use them so it can be bridged to ethernet. I'd imagine similar constraints would apply to interoperation between nodes on token ring and ethernet. Plugwash 23:32, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Request move
- Network switch → Switch (networking). Rationale: I'd like to be bold and simply move the article but I feel a consensus would perhaps be beneficial. I believe adding a category indication to the end of the article's title would improve clarity, it would also be much easier to organize other articles this way. --Bruce 23:56, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Voting
- Add *Support or *Oppose followed by an optional one sentence explanation, then sign your vote with ~~~~
- Oppose, bracketed disambiguation is an ugly last resort, network switch is a perfectly good title. Plugwash 01:04, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
- Support: in the context of networking it's always referred to as a "switch" and sticking with the common name (per WP:NC). After picking a dozen links or so and seeing how it is used in context then it's clear that the most common use is "switch"; look at the articles that use it: [[network switch|switch]]. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Cburnett (talk • contribs) .
- Oppose. There are many switches (electrical switches, railway switches) that are not network switches - so when "switch" is used alone to mean "network switch", it's because it's in a networking context. --Alvestrand 21:22, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
- Abstain - The Router article is listed under just "Router". Hub takes you to a disambiguation page where you can click on Ethernet hub. The lack of consistency here might suggest you go ahead with your move. N. Harmon 15:21, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
- Abstain - for now. Look at the Switches (Disambiguation) page. The computing / electro-mechanical switches generally dont use this form, while the music/media "switches" do. If you change this one, you ought to change some of the other switches too. Are there any guidelines for this? I do suggest this page should link back to Switches (Disambiguation). IanB 14:58, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Discussion
- Add any additional comments
Well so far we have 2 supports, 2 oppose and 2 abstain (who do feel that the issue should be looked into). I'm quite busy next week, but as soon as I get some spare time on my hands I'm going to start looking into the situation and try and figure out what can be done. --Bruce 07:23, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Incorrect revenue figure
"There are currently 6 major players competing for market share of the $3.659 Billion Dollar networking and telecommunications industry. According to a Dell'Oro report for 1Q06 the market leaders in descending order are Cisco, Nortel, Hewlett-Packard, Foundry Networks, 3Com, and Extreme Networks."
- This figure is obvious nonsense - Cisco alone has an annual revenue of $24 billion. Maybe the wrong thousands separator was used? Furthermore, using a currency symbol in combination with a currency name is redundant (both are commonly understood to refer to the United States Dollar). Other issues: capitalization and the fact that it doesn't state whether the figure pertains to the national (US) or international market. Maybe someone who has correct numbers could fix this, else it should be removed. Aragorn2 13:50, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Hub vs. Switch in small networks
"A hub does not take any time to analyze a packet before sending it on; it simply duplicates the packet on all connected ports. A switch reduces the number of collisions on a network but increases the amount of time each packet takes to be processed." Well said, man.
[edit] Calculation about switch
How to calculate the width of the memory data bus, how to calculate the minimum clock frequency in turn. what is the input queue architecture, how it affect the performance of switch?
[edit] weird sentence
"Performance specs? - Switch Fabric (definition needed) - MAC table size - RAM buffer size - Network Protocol and Standards - optional ports (fiber, SFP Expansion Slots, etc) - auto port speed detection, configuration" - that part looks funny... not really in a good way though ;) --bb 22:00, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Alert--wrong link
The term "repeater" is linked--however, to something else, from electronics. It seems like it should be linked to the article called "Multiport repeater", by all logic. Also, the article "Multiport repeater" should be added to the disambuguation page for "Repeater". --Sukkoth 10:50, 26 January 2007 (UTC)
