description: >- “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”

TermDefinition
BridgeA network mode (or network device) which copies packets between two physical interfaces, without changing the content of the packets.

Similar to a switch, a bridge copies packets from one physical network to another physical network, without modification.
HubA hub distributes packets from all connected devices to all other connected devices.

A hub operates at the physical layer (layer 1) and has no insight into the contents of the data, and offers no protection against multiple devices transmitting at once.
Layer NA reference to a layer in the OSI network model; typically used to describe the area of networking, such as layer 2 (raw packets), layer 4 (TCP and above), and so on.
MAC AddressA MAC address (Media Access Control), is the unique 6-byte addressed of a network card at the lowest layer.

MAC addresses must be unique within a network.

The first 3 bytes of the MAC address are known as the OUI (Organizational Unique Identifier); each manufacturer has a unique UI, which allows identifying (to some extent) what company has produced a network device. Since many network devices are re-branded or include network chipsets from other companies, this information is not always reliable.
NATAlso known as Network Address Translation or Masquerading; a method where packets from multiple devices on a private network are rewritten to appear to be from a single device on the public network.
Packet

A packet represents a collection of data on the network transmitted as a single object.


A stream of data (such as a web site or video stream) is broken up into many packets to traverse the network.

Often used synonymously with the term "frame" to indicate a block of data on a physical network.

RouterA network mode (or network device) which directs packets from one logical network to another (such as from a private network to an Internet connection, often utilizing NAT in the process).

Routers are responsible for passing packets from one network to another, such as a private local network passing packets to a larger corporate network or the Internet.

Routers modify packets to direct them to the new network.
SwitchA network device which connects multiple Ethernet devices, while keeping traffic separate.

A switch operates purely at the data layer (layer 2), and typically has no insight into the types of packets or the protocols contained in the packet.