3Com SuperStack II manual Cabling Standards, Creating a Valid Network, Emissions Compliance

166APPENDIX D: CONNECTORS AND CABLES

Cabling Standards

Cabling should be installed in accordance with the following standards:

■EIA/TIA-568 – Commercial building telecommunications wiring standard

■TSB-36 – Additional cable specifications for unshielded twisted pair cables

■IBM cabling guidelines

100BASE-TX Cabling Table 22 lists supported 100BASE-TX cable types and emissions classes.

Table 22 Cable Support and Emissions Compliance

		Emissions Compliance*
		FCC Class A	EN55022 Class B
Cable Type	Connectors	VCCI Class A	VDE Class B
Category 5 UTP	Category 5 RJ-45	Yes	No
	(including jacks)
Category 5 shielded UTP	Category 5 RJ-45	Yes	Yes
	(including jacks)

* Shielding of all cable types should be terminated 360º at the cable plug.

The three types of Fast Ethernet interfaces are:

■TX — Runs over Category 5 UTP and Category 5 shielded UTP.

■FX — Runs over fiber. FX does not connect to the SuperStack II NETBuilder SI bridge/router, but you can use FX in your network between appropriate devices.

■T4 — Runs over Category 3 or better UTP or shielded UTP. T4 does not connect to the SuperStack II NETBuilder SI bridge/router, but you can use T4 in your network between appropriate devices.

Follow the steps in the next section to design a valid Fast Ethernet network.

Creating a Valid Network

A Fast Ethernet network consists of collision domain diameters formed by cabling and/or repeaters between two DTE devices. A DTE device is a bridge/router, switch, or end station that contains a media access controller (MAC). Repeaters usually do not contain a MAC.