Hops refer to the individual steps a packet of data takes from one network to another to reach its intended destination within a network. Each time the data packet is passed from one router to another, it is considered a hop. The lesser the hops, the faster the data transfer.
Hops Examples
#1. Email Routing
Imagine you’re situated in New York City and you’re sending an email to your friend living in Los Angeles. The data packet comprising your email doesn’t travel straight to your friend’s inbox. It has to pass through several stepping stones to eventually reach its destination.
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For instance, your email may first get forwarded to a server located in Chicago. From Chicago, it gets transferred to yet another server – this time in Denver. Ultimately, it reaches your friend’s local server in Los Angeles.
All these transfers represent ‘hops’. In this particular scenario, your email made three hops — firstly from New York to Chicago, secondly from Chicago to Denver, and finally from Denver to Los Angeles. So, ‘hops’ are basically the individual steps that your data packet took to get to where it was supposed to go.
Let’s focus on another situation, this time within a corporate network. Imagine you need access to a shared document, but it’s placed in a separate department’s server. When you send a request, that request follows many stops or ‘hops’ before it touches its end point.
Initially, your request could transition to your local department’s server. This is known as the first hop. Following this, it could be rerouted to the corporation’s main server; this is your second hop. The last hop would be when it gets directed to the server where the shared file lives.
Therefore, in this instance, your request has taken three hops to get to the targeted destination. Each transfer from server to server denotes a separate hop, and these hops together illustrate the passage the data took to arrive at its goal.
#3. Online Video Call
Consider doing an online video call, where you chat with a person situated in a different part of the world. The data packets of your voice and video don’t directly land on the other person’s device; they have to undertake several ‘hops’ before they reach the destination.
Initially, the data packets may go through the Wi-Fi router in your house, marking the first hop. From there, they might get forwarded to a router at your local Internet Service Provider or ISP, which becomes the second hop. The next hop could be a server in the nearest data center, which prepares to route your data packets to its final destination.
Remember, each of these movements is considered a ‘hop’. Therefore, the more the hops, the more time it takes for data transfer. Minimizing the number of hops is often the key to faster and more efficient data transmission.
Conclusion
In the realm of networking, the term ‘hops’ plays a crucial role in understanding data transmission. It’s essential to realize that minimizing the number of hops can lead to a faster data transfer, enhancing overall efficiency and user satisfaction.
Key Takeaways
- ‘Hops’ in networking language signifies the steps a data packet takes from one network node (such as a router) to another.
- Every time a data packet is passed from one router to another, it is known as a ‘hop’.
- The efficiency of data transmission can be influenced by the number of hops. Lesser hops typically mean faster data transfers.
- The routes or paths that data packets take across the network, often through various servers and routers, are witnessed through these hops.
- In certain scenarios, such as sending emails, accessing documents in a corporate network, or making video calls, data packets make several hops to reach their final destination.
Related Questions
1. How can you track the number of hops a data packet makes?
You can use tools like ‘traceroute’ or ‘ping’ commands in the command-line interface of your operating system. These tools display the path that a packet takes from the source to the destination, along with each hop it makes.
2. Why is a lower number of hops often sought in a network?
A lower number of hops generally equates to quicker data transmission. More hops could lead to increased latency and slower network performance, hence fewer hops are usually preferable.
3. Is it always possible to minimize the number of hops?
No, it’s not always possible. The number of hops a data packet makes depends on various factors like network architecture, routing protocols used, current traffic load and even geographical distances.
4. Can hops impact the performance of online games?
Yes, more hops can result in a higher latency, which can affect game performance. This is why gamers often prefer a direct, low-latency connection to game servers with minimum hops.
5. How does a data packet know where to hop?
Data packets know where to hop through data contained in their headers. This includes information such as the destination IP address, which is used by routers to send the packet along the correct path.
"Amateurs hack systems, professionals hack people."
-- Bruce Schneier, a renown computer security professional
