CHAPTER
9-1
Catalyst 2950 Desktop Switch Software Configuration Guide
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9

Configuring the Switch Interfaces

This c ha pter d efines the ty pes o f i nte rface s on th e swi tch and de scri bes how to c on figure th em . Th e
chap ter has these sect ions:
•Understa ndin g I nte rface Types, pa ge 9-1
•Using th e Interfa ce Comm and, page 9-4
•Configuring Switch Interfaces, page 9-9
•Monitoring and Maintaining the Interfaces, page 9-16
Note For complete syntax and usage information for the commands used in this chapter, refer to the switch
command reference for this release and the online Cisco I OS I nte rface Com mand Refe rence for
Release 12.1.

Understandin g Interfac e Types

This secti on describe s the different types of interfaces sup ported by the switch w ith referen ces to
chap ter s that con tain mo re deta iled in fo rmat ion ab out co nfiguring th ese int erface ty pe s. The re st of the
chapt er de scri bes c on figurati on pro ced ure s f or switc h por ts .
Switch ports are Layer 2-only interfaces associated with a physical port. They are used for managing the
physical interface and associated Layer 2 protocols and do not handle routing or bridging. A switch port
can be an ac cess port or a trunk port .
You ca n co nfigure a port as an ac cess po rt o r tr unk po rt o r let t h e Dyna mic Trunking Pro toc ol ( DT P)
operate on a p er-port basi s to det ermine if a swit ch po rt s houl d be an acc ess p ort or a trun k port by
negotiating with the port on the other end of the link.
Configure switch ports by using the switchport interfac e configurati on comman ds. For detaile d
inform ation about configuring ac cess port and t runk port char acte ristics, see Chapter 14, “Configurin g
VLANs.”
Note Th e physic al sw itch por ts swit ches can be 1 0/100 E therne t p ort s, 10 /100 /1 000 E th erne t po rts,
100BASE-FX ports, 1000BASE-SX port s, GBIC modu l e port s, and Lo ng- Reac h Eth er net (LRE ) po rts.
For more information, refer to the switch hardware installation guide.