Connection Required Cable | Cisco Systems WAE-7341-K9, WAE-7371-K9

Cabling

Note We strongly recommend that you do not use half-duplex connections on the WAE or on routers, switches, or other devices.

If you are connecting a WAE inline appliance between two devices using Gigabit Ethernet, you can use either straight-through cables, crossover cables, or any combination of the two cable types, regardless of the type of device. However, for consistency, we recommend that you use straight-through cables for all Gigabit Ethernet connections.

Table 3 shows the cable requirements for WAE and non-WAE connections when you are using Gigabit Ethernet end to end.

Table 3	Cable Requirements for WAE Connections Using Gigabit Ethernet

Connection		Required Cable

Switch to switch (no WAE)		Crossover or straight-through

Switch to router (no WAE)		Crossover or straight-through

Router to router (no WAE)		Crossover or straight-through

Switch to WAE and		Crossover or straight-through

WAE to Router		Crossover or straight-through

Switch to WAE and		Crossover or straight-through

WAE to Switch		Crossover or straight-through

Router to WAE and		Crossover or straight-through

WAE to Router		Crossover or straight-through

WAE to WAE		Crossover or straight-through

Some switches support automatic medium-dependent interface crossover (MDIX). You can configure MDIX by using the mdix auto global configuration switch command. If your switch supports MDIX, you do not need to follow these cabling rules because MDIX automatically adjusts transmit and receive pairs when an incorrect cable type (crossover or straight-through) is installed on a 10/100 Fast Ethernet port. However, when you configure MDIX, you must also configure the port to use autosense (not manual selection of speed/duplex).

Caution If you are connecting to Fast Ethernet ports on both the LAN and the WAN sides of the WAE inline appliance, you must consider the types of devices that are being connected, and you must use the correct cables. You must follow these cabling instructions for the inline network adapter to work properly. (See Table 4. For illustrations and examples, see the “Installation Scenarios and Cabling Examples for Fast Ethernet Connections” section on page 29.)

To connect the inline network adapter using the correct cables for Fast Ethernet connections, follow these steps:

Step 1 Determine the type of cable that you would use for a direct connection between your two end devices (without a WAE inline network appliance connected between them) by using the following standard cabling rules:

•When you are directly connecting two network devices that are similar, such as two switches, use a crossover cable.

Installing the Cisco WAE Inline Network Adapter

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