Cabletron Systems 6H203-24, 6H253-13 Introduction

Introduction 1-1

Introduction

This chapter introduces the 6H203-24 and 6H253-13 SmartSwitch 6000 interface modules and

provides information about how to obtain additional support from Cabletron Systems.

The SmartSwitches shown in Figure1-1 are Ethernet/Fast Eth er net interface modules for the

Cabletron Systems 6C105 chassis. The 6H203-24 has two RJ21 champ connectors, for a total of

24 switched ports. The 6H253-13 has one RJ21 champ connector, for a total of 12 switched ports

and 1 slot for an optional High Speed Interface Module (HSIM) or Very High Speed Interface

Module (VHSIM).

The SmartSwitch can be used to connect individual high-bandwidth user devices, such as

workstations, or to provide a central switching point for multiple 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet

segments. The optional HSIMs provide one or more high speed uplinks to networking

technologies such as Gigabit Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI),

Wide Area Network (WAN) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Some HSIMs can also

provide additional Fast Ethernet ports in varying media types. The opt ional VHSIMs provide very

high speed uplinks to networking technologies such as ATM and Gigabit Ethernet.

The SmartSwitch ports can be configured to control frame traffic several ways, including

prioritizing traffic flow according to protocol type. The SmartSwitches can also be configured to

establish Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) and control the flow of frames associated with

each VLAN according to priority and Ether type. Detailed information about VLANs is provided

in the Local Management User’s Guide for this module.

Depending on the firmware version used in the SmartSwitches, some features de scribed in this

document may not be supported. Refer to the Release Notes shipped with the device to determine

which features are supported.