BUILDING ETHERSOUND NETWORKS
Mixed Daisy Chain & Star Configuration
Ethernet Additionnal hardware
Hubs
A hub (also known as repeater) is a central connection point for computers on a star-
topology-based network. Any data it receives is broadcasted to all ports, and then only
the computer that is ‘listening’ for the data actually receives and processes the
transmission. Hubs are the ‘unintelligent’ relatives of switches.
Due to their internal architecture, repeater hubs MUST NOT be used in EtherSound
networks.
Switches
The term “Ethernet Switch” is now used for multiple-port-devices that are able to filter
and forward frames at nearly the speed of Ethernet (‘wire speed’). The two most
common methods used for routing the traffic are:
• Cut-through: These switches read the MAC (Media Access Control) address as
soon as a frame is detected by the switch and immediately begin sending the frame to
the destination node, even as the rest of the frame is coming into the switch.
• Store-and-forward: a switch using store-and-forward saves the entire frame to the
buffer and checks it for CRC errors or other problems before sending. If the frame has
an error, it is discarded. Otherwise, the switch looks up the MAC address and sends
the frame on to the destination node. A switch is a multi-port device that filters and
NXTENSION USER MANUAL
DOCUMENT REVISION 150305
PAGE
18
