Thursday, April 2, 2009

Computer network nodes

In data communication, a node may either be a data circuit-terminating equipment (DCE) such as a modem, hub, bridge or switch; or a data terminal equipment (DTE) such as a digital telephone handset, a printer or a host computer, for example a router, a workstation or a server.

If the network in question is the Internet, many network nodes are host computers, identified by an IP address, and all hosts are nodes. However, datalink layer devices such as switches, bridges and WLAN access points do not have an IP host address (except sometimes for administrative purposes), and are not considered as Internet nodes, but as network nodes.

If the network in question is a peer-to-peer or overlay network, nodes that actively route data for the other networked devices as well as themselves are called supernodes. Nodes that route between supernodes are commonly referred to as "super-duper" nodes.

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