Switches are data link layer (layer 2 in the OSI model) devices. Their main goal is connecting networking devices by receiving switching packets and forwarding them to the destination devices. Switching is an efficient solution for connecting devices, though it is not practical if we want to connect a large number of end-system devices (computers, phones, and so on) and nodes. A node is an entity that carries information from a source to a destination without modifying information or data; a set of nodes is called a communication network, as shown here:
In switching, there are three different techniques:
- Circuit switching: This is a fixed channel between the sender and the receiver, and the dedicated channel is called a circuit. Once a connection is established, no other devices can use the channel, even if the circuit is not fully used until the connection...
