D-Link DE-1824EI User Guide - Page 33

10BASE-T Stackable Hubs Figure 4 -2 Daisy-Chaining Hubs Segmenting Hubs The emergence of Ethernet switching hub technology has made it more common to segment local area networks into smaller pieces to reduce congestion on each segment. This makes it easier to balance network loads, since a smaller number of devices compete for the 10Mbps bandwidth on each network segment. A stack of eight hubs makes network management convenient, but 192 Ethernet stations on a single Ethernet network segment may give slow response at peak network loads. Therefore, the hub provides a way to segment hubs from the stack into their own collision domains. Segmenting hubs requires only a simple management command, and does not require any hardware or wiring changes. Though the hubs continue to be daisy-chained together and are managed as a single unit, each hub can either be a part of the collision domain of the rest of the stack, or can be separated into its own network segment. These separate segments can be bridged by connecting them to separate ports of an Ethernet switching hub. Building Hub Stacks 4-5