In general, to broadcast (verb) is to cast or throw forth something in all directions at the same time.

A radio or television broadcast (noun) is a program that is transmitted over airwaves for public reception by anyone with a receiver tuned to the right signal channel. The term is sometimes used in e-mail or other message distribution for a message sent to all members, rather than specific members, of a group such as a department or enterprise. On the Internet, certain Web sites deliver original or redistributed broadcasts from existing radio and television stations, using streaming sound or streaming video techniques, to Web users who visit the Web site or "tune it in" using a special program such as RealPlayer. Like publicly available radio and television broadcasts, Web broadcasts are available to anyone. The Web now offers live as well as prepackaged broadcasts and also plays back audio and video tapes. Some programming is scheduled and other prepackaged programs can be delivered on demand. Many Web users listen to music from a particular broacasting site as they surf other sites on the Web. Broadcast should not be confused with unicast, a transmission to a specific receiver (like most e-mail messages); multicast, a transmission to multiple specific receivers (as in e-mail to a distribution list or a Web transmission over the MBone network to a specific group of receiving addresses); or anycast, a transmission to the nearest of a group of routers, used in Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) as a technique for chain-updating a group of routers with new routing information.

WHAT IS BROADCAST DOMAIN ?

Switching , VLAN Basics Concepts LAN design is simple , but it is required fundamental knowledges to understanding the operation in devices. Basically there are some historical topics that have information required for net-workers. These history is not for hundred years back , it is for 20 years ago to now. The Virtual LAN or VLAN meaning is required to understand the broadcast domain and collision domain . Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) As before said in old technologies like bus , each device requires to control the media (bandwidth) and sends the data (MA) . Hub is a sample of bus and a PC that is connected to the hub at first time checks the hub to find the bus is empty for sending data and bus is not busy then send .(Carrier Sense CS) .If bus becomes busy (Collision Detection) then CD procedures and try with random timer to take control of bus ,.... A collision is a condition when to PC in same times want to send data . For example in a group of people , that they are talking , two member start talking but after moment both of them stop talking politely and wait to silence to start speak . Collision Domains and Broadcast Domains When creating any Ethernet LAN, you use some form of networking devices typically switches todaya few routers, and possibly a few hubs. The different parts of an Ethernet LAN may behave differently, in terms of function and performance,

depending on which types of devices are used. These differences then affect a network engineers decision when choosing how to design a LAN. The terms collision domain and broadcast domain define two important effects of the process of segmenting LANs using various devices.

Collision domain - Broadcast domain

Collision Domains A collision domain is the set of LAN interfaces whose frames could collide with each other, but not with frames sent by any other devices in the network. The collision is happened when to computer in same time want to use media (bus or hub bandwidth ) . The CSMA/CD algorithm that deals with the issue of collisions, and some of the differences between how hubs and switches operate to create either a single collision domain (hubs) or many collision domains (switches). Each separate segment, or collision domain, is shown with a dashed-line circle in the figure. In Hub design we can see a hub is one collision domain . This means all bandwidth is shared between all PC 's , only the hub of the network does not create multiple collision domains for each interface. It repeats all frames out all ports without any regard for buffering and waiting to send a frame onto a busy segment. Broadcast Domains The term broadcast domain relates to where broadcasts can be forwarded in a LAN. A broadcast domain encompasses a set of devices for when one of the devices sends a broadcast, all the other devices receive a copy of the broadcast. For example, switches flood broadcasts and multicasts on all ports. Because broadcast frames are sent out all ports, a switch creates a single broadcast domain. Broadcasts sent by a device in one broadcast domain are not forwarded to devices in another broadcast domain. In our sample in bridge , there is one broadcast domain.

General definitions for a collision domain and a broadcast domain are as follows: A collision domain is a set of network interface cards (NIC) for which a frame sent by one NIC could result in a collision with a frame sent by any other NIC in the same collision domain. A broadcast domain is a set of NICs for which a broadcast frame sent by one NIC is received by all other NICs in the same broadcast domain. The Importance of Collision and Broadcast Domains on LAN Design When designing a LAN, when choosing the number of devices in each collision domain and broadcast domain. First, consider the devices in a single collision domain for a moment. For a single collision domain: The devices share the available bandwidth in network. The devices may inefficiently use that bandwidth due to the effects of collisions For example, you might have ten PCs with 10/100 Ethernet NICs. If you connect all ten PCs to ten different ports on a single 100-Mbps hub, you have one collision domain, and the PCs in that collision domain share the 100 Mbps of bandwidth. That may work well and meet the needs of those users. However, with higher traffic loads, the hubs performance would be worse and you need a switch . Using a switch instead of a hub, with the same topology, would create ten different collision domains, each with 100 Mbps of bandwidth. Also, with only one device on each switch interface, no collisions would occur. This means that you could enable full duplex on each interface, effectively giving each interface 200 Mbps. Using the switches instead of hubs seems like an obvious choice given the overwhelming performance benefits. Frankly, most new installations today use switches exclusively.

A broadcast domain is a logical division of a computer network, in which all nodes can reach each other by broadcast at the data link layer. A broadcast domain can be within the same LAN segment or it can be bridged to other LAN segments. In terms of current popular technologies: Any computer connected to the same Ethernet repeater or switch is a member of the same broadcast domain. Further, any computer connected to the same set of inter-connected switches/repeaters is a member of the same broadcast domain. Routers and other higher-layer devices form boundaries between broadcast domains. This is as compared to a collision domain, which would be all nodes on the same set of interconnected repeaters, divided by switches and learning bridges. Collision domains are generally smaller than, and contained within, broadcast domains. While some layer two network devices are able to divide the collision domains, broadcast domains are only divided by layer 3 network devices such as routers or layer 3 switches. Separating VLANs divides broadcast domains as well, but provides no means to network these without layer 3 functionality.

Multicast
Multicast is communication between a single sender and multiple receivers on a network. Typical uses include the updating of mobile personnel from a home office and the periodic issuance of online newsletters. Together with anycast and unicast, multicast is one of the packet types in the Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6). Multicast is supported through wireless data networks as part of the Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) technology. Multicast is also used for programming on the MBone, a system that allows users at highbandwidth points on the Internet to receive live video and sound programming. In addition to using a specific high-bandwidth subset of the Internet, Mbone multicast also uses a protocol that allows signals to be encapsulated as TCP/IP packet when passing through parts of the Internet that can not handle the multicast protocol directly.

Anycast
In Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), anycast is communication between a single sender and the nearest of several receivers in a group. The term exists in contradistinction to multicast, communication between a single sender and multiple receivers, and unicast, communication between a single sender and a single receiver in a network. Anycasting is designed to let one host initiate the efficient updating of router tables for a group of hosts. IPv6 can determine which gateway host is closest and sends the packets to that host as though it were a unicast communication. In turn, that host can anycast to another host in the group until all routing tables are updated.

Unicast
Unicast is communication between a single sender and a single receiver over a network. The term exists in contradistinction to multicast, communication between a single sender and multiple receivers, and anycast, communication between any sender and the nearest of a group of receivers in a network. An earlier term, point-to-point communication, is similar in meaning to unicast. The new Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) supports unicast as well as anycast and multicast.