You may think, why do we need to learn about an outdated device? What’s the point of it? What’s the purpose? From my point of view, it is important to know about even outdated devices because it will be helpful to understand the concepts of what we are currently using in more detail. Everything started at one point. If we also start from that point to learn, we can understand things even better.
What is a Hub?
A hub is a very basic networking device used to connect devices like computers, laptops, printers, etc., in a Local Area Network (LAN). Nowadays, a hub is considered an outdated device because we have advanced switches that work better than a hub. In simple terms, we can understand that a hub just receives the data and broadcasts it to all other devices in the LAN.
Where is a Hub Used?
Currently, it is not used anywhere. But before switches were introduced, hubs were used where more than one device needed to be connected — like in offices, schools, colleges, small businesses, etc.
How a Hub Works
Hub functionality is very simple. When any device sends data to another device connected in a LAN, the data frames are first received by the hub. Then the data is broadcasted by the hub to all other devices, but only the recipient device reacts while others ignore it. This is the main reason for its low efficiency and why it causes network traffic. Its speed is limited (10 Mbps or 100 Mbps). If we think about security — it's obviously low because the data is visible to all devices. These kinds of drawbacks in hubs have been rectified in switches.
Real-World Analogy
We can connect the concept of a hub with a real-world example for better understanding. Let’s imagine you are at an airport and there is an announcement being made over the speaker to some random airline passengers regarding a flight delay. But this announcement (data) is received by all the other airline passengers at the airport. Others ignore the announcement, but only the intended recipients react.
Advantages of a Hub:
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May be suitable for a very small legacy LAN.
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Cheaper when compared to modern networking devices.
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Setup is very simple and easy.
Disadvantages of a Hub:
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Low efficiency causes network traffic.
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Poor security due to data broadcasting.
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Data collision is common because it uses half-duplex communication.