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Decision Support Systems Used in Network Hardware

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Decision Support Systems Used in Network Hardware
How does data pass through the internet? If you said decision support systems, you are correct. In an indecisive world, network hardware devices uses decision support systems (DSS) to efficiently and effectively route data, in a local area network, with the least amount of errors and inconsistencies. Decision support systems are the brains behind network hardware, and would be near impossible for them to work without the intelligent core of each distinct DSS. There are a variety of network hardware devices: switches, hubs, and routers; and they all use algorithms/procedures to transfer data towards the correct destination. Although there are many more DSS related methods used to route traffic, this paper describes how these three devices use them and each of there functions. Other types of decision support systems that network hardware devices may use are firewall technology, network address translation, and filter tables, which are all described in this paper.
Network hardware is used in the first three layers of the OSI reference model. The OSI reference model is the Open Systems Interconnections standard and consists of seven layers that build from the wire. At the first layer, “the physical layer”, hubs maybe used for simple, inexpensive technology within a corporation. Hubs, when receiving data sent to it, sends that data too all network interface cards, or NICS on each computer. If the data is at its correct destination, the NIC to read the data, but if it is not, the data is discarded. Of course, this setting is much slower, because the other NICS are waiting for there turn, which is after the first message is delivered or timed out. Raymond R. Panko writes this about the waiting state a hub goes in when transmitting data: “This creates latency (delay), which grows as the number of stations grows. Another way of saying this is that the speed of the hub is shared. (Panko 108)” As, you can tell, hubs are simple, and don’t use more information than needed.
Switches, which are layer 2 devices, use decision based routing by storing NIC hardware addresses and port numbers on a table in the switch. By doing this, when data is received by the switch, it knows where the source was, and where the data needs to go. This allows for faster data transmission for all NICS that are connected, because it uses the swi...

... middle of paper ...

... mining tools are being used to uncover the congestion that slows network traffic down. With all these DSS type applications working together in harmony, the internet can be faster and safer to surf, than ever before.

Sources
Fairhurst, Gorry. “Operation of a Router.” 10 Jan, 2001.
“How Firewalls Work.” HowStuffWorks (http://howstuffworks.com), by Jeff Tyson. HowStuffWorks Inc.,2002.
“How LAN Switches Work.” HowStuffWorks (http://howstuffworks.com), bye Jeff Tyson. HowStuffWorks Inc.,2002.
“How Network Address Translation Works.” HowStuffWorks (http://www.howstuffworks.com), by Jeff Tyson. HowStuffWorks, Inc., 2002.
“How Routing Algorithms Work." HowStuffWorks (http://www.howstuffworks.com), by Roozbeh Razavi. HowStuffWorks, Inc., 2002.
Norton, Michael J. “Layer 3 Switching -- Introducing the Router.” The O’Reilly Network. 13 Apr. 2001. http://www.oreillynet.com/lpt/a/770
Panko, Raymond R. “Business Data Networks and Telecommunication”. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2003.
Whipple, William L. “TCP/IP For Internet Administrators.” A Searchable Technical Reference Document. Western Logic Works: 1997 (http://www.pku.edu.cn/academic/research/computer-center/tc/html/TC0310.html)
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