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| A hub is a central device that connects all computers in an Ethernet CAT5 UTP network. It allows for several connections and most offer roll over ports to connect to additional hubs. |
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| Hubs come in different speeds. The most common speed for a hub is 10Mbps, but the 100Mbps (and promises of Gigabit speeds) are quickly replacing this. The speed of these hubs is only as fast as the speed of your network cards. Most NICs today support either 10Mbps or the 100Mbps. All cards on the network must use the same speed; in other words, if you have one card that uses 10Mbps only, you can't use the 100Mbps hub. Resolution? Replace the slow card. |
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| Most hubs include a roll over port to connect to other hubs. Simply create a short patch cable (or purchase one) and connect the cable to an outgoing jack (any regular jack) to the jack labeled "IN" on the second hub. If your hub does not include this feature you can use a cross over cable to connect the two hubs together. |
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| Sometimes you may have to reset the hub. A hub is simply a controller, or circuit, for all of the network connections. Should a NIC go bad in the network it's possible for this NIC to send a flood of electronic messages (called a broadcast storm) so quickly that the hub cannot keep up with it and the network is shut down. Most hubs include a recessed reset switch to reset the hub's services. This is not something you will have to do very often, if ever. |
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