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I use Huawei EG series router. It is having 3 FE ports and 1 GE port(4 swtich ports totally). So I am guessing 4 is the maximum number of devices that can be connected using Ethernet.

In that case all these devices will be having same network or will it be creating separate broadcast domains for each ports.

Also will it each port has separate MAC address?

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In that case all these devices will be having same network or will it be creating separate broadcast domains for each ports.

Switches are a kind of a bridge, so switch ports will be part of the same broadcast domain, and therefore part of the same IP subnet.

(However, each switch port is a separate Ethernet collision domain.)

Also, switches may support assigning ports to different VLANs, creating several isolated broadcast domains – while this is more of an enterprise feature, it is nevertheless not unheard of even in 4-port home gateways.

Does all ports in a Router(switch ports) share same network address

Switches themselves don't care about having an IP address – it's the attached "router" (or the switch's management interface) that has one. Because there's only one of it, and it's attached to just one broadcast domain, it'll also have one network address.

Also will it each port has separate MAC address?

Sometimes, but usually no.

Switches might not necessarily have a MAC address. A switch only needs a MAC address if it generates its own frames, e.g. if it sends STP or LLDP BPDUs, or if it acts as an IP host (so you could connect to it for management). In those cases all ports will share the same MAC address, as they're in the same broadcast domain anyway.

There are exceptions, some routers with built-in switches do have a range of MAC addresses assigned to each of their ports, so that they could support "splitting off" the ports for use as standalone, non-switched interfaces (see e.g. Mikrotik home router products as an example) – but as long as the ports are bridge members, they share the MAC address of that bridge and their individual MACs remain unused.

So I am guessing 4 is the maximum number of devices that can be connected using Ethernet.

Well, you can also connect 4 switches to it. With four cheap 8-port switches that would give you 28 ports; with 48-port ones, 188 ports total. (To which you can connect 188 more 48-port switches and get 8836 ports for your devices...)

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  • Hi, will each LAN port in router be separate switch, in that case 4 switch in case of a router with 4 port or is it like one switch but multiple ports embedded to a router. Because from my understanding each switch creates its own broadcast domain. And I am confused by the initial references as Switches(plural)
    – Allen Johnson
    Commented Feb 15, 2022 at 18:06
  • A switch always has multiple ports – that's what makes it a switch; its purpose is literally to join several ports together.
    – grawity_u1686
    Commented Feb 15, 2022 at 20:14

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