NETGEAR FS 524S User Manual
Page 12
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introduction
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All RJ-45 ports on the FS517TS and FS524S Switches automatically negotiate to the
highest speed, making the switches ideal for environments that have a mix of Ethernet
and Fast Ethernet devices. In addition, all 10/100 Mbps ports operate in half- or full-
duplex mode, increasing the maximum bandwidth of each connection up to 20 Mbps or
200 Mbps, respectively. Both switch models support automatic address learning and
IEEE 802.3x-compliant flow control to ensure optimal packet reliability.
The FS517TS and FS524S Switches can be free standing or rack mounted (in a wiring
closet or equipment room). Moreover, they can be used as stand-alone devices or
cascaded to create a single “virtual” switch:
• The FS517TS Switch has a single stacking port that can cascade to another
FS517TS Switch to provide a total of 32 Fast Ethernet ports and two copper gigabit
ports in a single switched stack.
• The FS524S Switch has two bi-directional stacking ports, allowing load-balanced,
fault-tolerant, redundant connections when cascaded with other FS524S Switches.
Up to eight FS524S Switches can be cascaded, providing up to 192 ports in a single
switched stack via a 4 Gbps high-speed backplane.
• The FS517TS and FS524S Switches can be stacked together. Connecting two
FS517TS Switches to a stack of eight FS524S creates one large virtual switch,
with up to 224 Fast Ethernet ports and two copper gigabit ports for server or
backbone connections.
Features
NETGEAR’s FS517TS and FS524S Switches share common features while providing
their own unique benefits. The following sections describe the features that are unique
and common to the switches.