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©Train Signal, Inc., 2002-2007
Fast Ethernet –Part 1
•Fast Ethernet is defined in IEEE 802.3u, and operates at 100MB.FE can use UTP or fiber-optic wiring.When full-duplexFE is in operation, the effective bandwidth is 200 MBPS, sinceFE ports can send and receive at the same time.•You'll see "10/100" ports on many switches.This means thatthe port will work with an Ethernet or Fast Ethernetconnection, and the port speed can be negotiated betweenthe switch and the connected device.To allow thisnegotiation, both end devices should be set for "auto", shortfor
autonegotiation
.And as you know, if you're connecting aserver, router, or workstation to a switch, you'll need astraight-through cable.
©Train Signal, Inc., 2002-2007
Fast Ethernet –Part 2
•Fast Ethernet ports can also be used to create a FastEtherChannel.An Etherchannel, or EC, is a logical bundlingof physical connections between switches.A Fast EC canbundle up to eight physical connections, resulting inthroughput of up to 1600 MBPS!•As with Ethernet, Fast Ethernet connections can connect endusers to the access-layer switches.FE ports can also beused to form a trunk between the access and distribution-layer switches, but hopefully we've got some Gigabit Ethernetports to handle that.
©Train Signal, Inc., 2002-2007
Gigabit Ethernet
•The next logical step is Gigabit Ethernet, often referred to as"Gig Ethernet".Gig Ethernet will support speeds up to 1000MBPS, or 1 Gigabit Per Second (GBPS).•The cabling you use with your Gig Ethernet ports is going tovary widely.The necessary cable is determined by theGigabit Ethernet standard in use on your particularswitch.Some of the more common cable types to use withGigabit Ethernet are Shielded Twisted-Pair (STP), MultimodeFiber (MMF) cable with either a 50-or 62.5 micron core, andSingle-Mode Fiber (SMF) with an 8-, 9-, or 50-micron core.•Make sure to check your switch's documentation before youstart buying cables!
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