How many broadcast and collision domains are found in a typical Ethernet Local Area Network?

In a typical Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN), the concepts of broadcast and collision domains are crucial for understanding network segmentation and performance.

A broadcast domain refers to a logical segmentation of a network where all devices can receive broadcast packets. In a basic Ethernet LAN, all devices connected to the same switch or hub reside in the same broadcast domain. Therefore, a typical Ethernet network will generally have only one broadcast domain if it's connected by a single switch. If routers are present, then each interface on the router will define a new broadcast domain, but this setup can vary widely based on the network design.

Collision domains are influenced primarily by the type of devices being used. In traditional Ethernet LAN setups with hubs, each hub represents a single collision domain, leading to potential collisions among all the devices connected to it. However, with switches, each port on the switch functions as its own collision domain. This drastically reduces the chances of collisions, as devices connected to different ports can communicate simultaneously without interference.

In a typical Ethernet network that employs switches, you can expect numerous collision domains corresponding to each switch port, while still retaining just one main broadcast domain unless specifically segmented by routers or VLAN configurations.

Therefore, in most scenarios, there tends to be one broadcast domain alongside multiple