Linksys ETHERFAST EG0801W - Manual (Page 6)

Installing the EtherFast ®
10/100/1000 8+1 Workgroup
GigaSwitch onto Your Network
Installing your EtherFast ® 10/100/1000 8+1 Workgroup GigaSwitch may
involve installing both an adapter and the GigaSwitch. If you are integrating
these items into an existing nework, some additional steps may be necessary
involving settings for your existing equipment. Consult your Network
Administrator for more information about how the GigaSwitch will interface
with your existing network components.
Connecting Computers To Your Switch
Your Switch’s rear panel has eight standard RJ-45 ports, plus a Gigabit port.
Each 10/100 port automatically detects the speed and duplex of the attached
cabling to a network card, switch, hub, etc. The ports operate in either full or
half duplex, which lets you run at speeds of 200Mbps, 100Mbps, 20Mbps or
10Mbps. The Gigabit port operates at 1000Mbps or 2000 Mbps.
Each 10/100 port on your Switch can connect to workstations, file servers,
hubs, repeaters, bridges, routers or other switches. Connections to the switch
require UTP Category 5 network cabling with RJ-45 tips, not to exceed
100 meters (328 feet) in length.
To connect a computer directly to the switch, plug one end of a standard net-
work cable into the switch, then plug the other end of the cable into the com-
puter's network adapter.
Overview
EtherFast ® 10/100/1000 8+1 Workgroup GigaSwitch
Installing The Workgroup Gigaswitch
nates the need to purchase new hardware, rewire and reconfigure an entire
site all at once. This scalability factor 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.
Scalability allows you to budget for your networking needs over time.
Now networks can run fast and slow segments at the same time for different
users and departments.
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 can-
not. 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, your Switch surges your network with
dedicated bandwidth to each node. For instance, if you connect five com-
puters to your EtherFast 10/100/1000 8+1 Workgroup GigaSwitch, then each
computer will get a dedicated bandwidth of 100Mbps at full duplex transfer.
If you run 5 computers from a 100Mbps hub, then each computer will only
share 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 wasted 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 between
10/100BASE-T switches, 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.
Instant Gigabit Series
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