Cisco Systems VIP-FE-TX/4E 4E Port Adapter, Ethernet 10BASE-T Overview, ETHERNET 10BT, H4497

VIP Port Adapter Functions

4E Port Adapter

The following sections discuss the 4E port adapter, which is shown in Figure 23.

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Ethernet 10BASE-T Overview

4E Port Adapter Description and 10BASE-T Specifications, page 45

4E Port Adapter LEDs, page 47

4E Port Adapter Receptacles, Cables, and Pinouts, page 47

Attaching 4E Port Adapter Interface Cables, page 49

Configuring the 4E Interfaces, page 50

Figure 23 4E Port Adapter, Faceplate View

ENABLED				1	3
	0	1	2	3	LINK
				0	2

ETHERNET 10BT

H4497

Ethernet 10BASE-T Overview

The VIP 4E port adapter provides up to four IEEE 802.3 Ethernet 10BASE-T interfaces on the VIP. Each Ethernet 10BASE-T interface allows a maximum bandwidth of 10-Mbps, for a maximum aggregate bandwidth of 40 Mbps. All four ports run at line speed.

The term Ethernet is commonly used for all carrier sense multiple access/collision detection (CSMA/CD) local-area networks (LANs) that generally conform to Ethernet specifications, including IEEE 802.3. Ethernet Version 2 and IEEE 802.3 were based on, and developed shortly after, Ethernet Version 1. The slight differences between Ethernet and IEEE 802.3 are implemented in hardware, and both are supported automatically by the 4E without any hardware configuration changes. Together, Ethernet and IEEE 802.3 are the most widely used LAN protocols. They are well suited to applications where a local communication medium must carry sporadic, occasionally heavy traffic at high peak data rates.

Stations on a CSMA/CD LAN can access the network at any time. Before sending data, the station listens to the network to see of it is already in use. If it is, the station waits until the network is not in use, then transmits. A collision occurs when two stations listen for network traffic, hear none, and transmit simultaneously. When this happens, both transmissions are damaged, and the stations must retransmit. The stations detect the collision and use backoff algorithms to determine when they should retransmit.

44VIP-FE-TX/4E Installation and Configuration