Nortel Networks 1000BASE-ZX, 1000BASE-SX MultiLink Trunking, Port mirroring conversation steering

Chapter 1 BayStack 420 Switch 39

MultiLink Trunking

The MultiLink Trunking feature allows you to group multiple ports, two to four together, when forming a link to another switch or server, thus increasing aggregate throughput of the interconnection between two devices, up to 800 Mb/s in full-duplex mode. The BayStack 420 Switch can be configured with up to six MultiLink Trunks in a stack. The trunk members can only be configured within a single unit in the stack.

For more information about the MultiLink Trunking feature, see “MultiLink Trunk Configuration Menu screen” on page 133.

Port mirroring (conversation steering)

The port mirroring feature (sometimes referred to as conversation steering) allows you to designate a single switch port as a traffic monitor for a specified port. You can specify port-basedmonitoring for ingress to a specific port. You can also attach a probe device (such as a Nortel Networks StackProbe, or equivalent) to the designated monitor port.

For more information about the port mirroring feature, see “Port Mirroring Configuration screen” on page 139.

Autosensing, autonegotiation, and autopolarity

The BayStack 420 switches are autosensing and autonegotiating devices:

•The term autosense refers to a port’s ability to sense the speed of an attached device.

•The term autonegotiation refers to a standardized protocol (IEEE 802.3u) that exists between two IEEE 802.3u-capable devices. Autonegotiation allows the switch to select the best of both speed and duplex modes.

•The term autopolarity refers to automatic detection of transmit and receive twisted pairs.

Using the BayStack 420 10/100/1000 Switch