Linksys EF3512 Installing EtherFast Gigabit Ethernet Switches, Switches Versus Hubs, Overview

Instant EtherFast® Series

Switches Versus Hubs

The Gigabit Ethernet Switch boosts your network performance several times over, conserving your time, money and resources. The Switch’s feature gives you a key advantage over other forms of networking by upgrading speed-criti- cal network segments to 1000Mbps while allowing existing 10BaseT and 100BaseTX networks to operate with the Switch. Allowing 10BaseT and 100BaseTX hardware speeds to run alongside each other eliminates the need to purchase new hardware, rewire, and reconfigure an entire site all at once. This ensures that Fast Ethernet will not fall obsolete to upgrades in speed standards and maintains use of all your old equipment until you decide to buy speedier replacements.

Switches also feature full-duplex data transfer, meaning that all computers on the Switch can “talk” to the Switch at the same time. Plus, switches can send and receive data simultaneously to all connections, whereas a hub cannot. A hub simply works with one computer at a time and only sends or receives data, since it cannot handle two-way communication.

In addition to full-duplex transfer, the Switch provides your network with ded- icated bandwidth to each node. For instance, if you connect eight computers to the EtherFast 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch, then each computer will get a dedicated bandwidth of 2000Mbps at full duplex transfer. If you run eight computers from a 100Mbps hub, then each computer will share only a part of the 100Mbps bandwidth.

A network without a switch is called a shared network because every node on the network competes for a fraction of the total bandwidth. In a shared network, data packets are randomly broadcasted to all stations until they discover their intended destination. Consequently, considerable time and bandwidth is wast- ed on data packets swimming along network lines before they find their correct address. A switch, on the other hand, looks at the address for each data packet and delivers it directly to the correct destination.

Gigabit Ethernet is ideal for deployment as a backbone interconnect, and as a connection to high-performance servers. With the addition of Gigabit Ethernet, Ethernet delivers scalable solution (10/100/1000 Mbps) for the LAN from the desktop to the workgroup, and the backbone.

EtherFast® 8-Port and 12-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switches

Chapter 4: Installing the

EtherFast® Gigabit Ethernet

Switches

Overview

Installing the EtherFast® Gigabit Ethernet Switch may involve installing both an adapter and the Gigabit Ethernet Switch. If you are integrating these items into an existing nework, some additional steps may be necessary involving set- tings for your existing equipment. Consult your network administrator for more information about how the Gigabit Ethernet Switch will interface with your existing network components.

Installing the Gigabit Ethernet Switches

The Switch’s front panel has eight or twelve RJ-45 ports. Each 10/100/1000 port automatically detects the speed and duplex of the attached cabling to a net- work card, switch, hub, etc. The ports operate in either full or half duplex, which lets you run at speeds of 2000Mbps, 200Mbps, 100Mbps, or 10Mbps.

Each 10/100/1000 port on your Switch can connect to workstations, file servers, hubs, repeaters, bridges, routers or other switches. Connections to the switch require Category 5 Ethernet network cabling (Category 5e for Gigabit connections.

To connect a computer directly to the Switch, plug one end of a standard net- work cable into the switch, and then plug the other end of the cable into the computer’s network adapter.

Connecting Your Hardware Together and Booting Up

Plug in the Gigabit Ethernet Switch’s power cable. The Power LED will light up. As devices make connections to the Switch’s ports, each port’s correspon- ding FDX or ACT LED will light up. The remaining LEDs will also light up according to how your connection is made, e.g. full or half duplex, 10Mbps, 100Mbps, or 1000Mbps.

If the Switch experiences excessive data collisions, verify that your network cabling is securely crimped and installed properly.

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