Solved: flat network

sarahr202 · ‎07-27-2010

Hi every body.

I have few questions.

i was reading u flat network. I googled it and found following:

One diagram shows a hub connected to hosts.

So I thought a flat network is a network where broadcast send by one host will be head by all.

Then i saw another diagram ,showing a switch connected to hosts.

It is possible that a switch might have vlans configured to separate hosts from talking to each other in absence of router/l3 switch. This prompted me to review my original concept based on first diagram.

I am still at loss what is the criteria to declare a network as flat network?

thanks and have a good day.

Gregory Camp · ‎07-27-2010

I'm pretty sure the definition of a flat network is a single broadcast domain which can be accomplished with a hub or a switch.

View solution in original post

Jon Marshall · ‎07-28-2010

Sarah

Just to add to Gregory's reply.

A flat network is indeed a single broadcast domain and this can be achieved using a switch or hub. If you use a hub you also have a single collision domain whereas with a switch you don't ie. each switch port is it's own collision domain.

Note also that we often refer to a flat L3 network as one where you have one network range for the whole network ie. it has not been subnetted down.

Jon