In this chapter about networking I will be discussing the operations that network switches perform. Most of these concepts are discussed in Network+ or CCNA materials. I also provide some lab examples that you can use to get familiar with the hardware involved. If you need lab items to test with, here is the cheapest switch I could find, and if you need a cheap windows PC, I have linked one, but if you want to test with more than one little computer, you might use a Raspberry Pi as your test unit. 5 port switch: HP PC: Terms I use in this video: NIC - Network interface Card MAC - Media Access Code (Your network serial number) MAC Address Table - Your switch's memory of what serial number is learned on which of it's switchports. Broadcast - A message sent to all switch ports Unicast - A message sent directly to a specific port Link Light - A green indicator light to show communication has been established. Encapsulation - The technique of wrapping data up into transportation formats so that it can be sent between devices. Ethernet Frame - The specific format a switch uses to encapsulate your data. LAN - A local area network, or the network that your switches represent.