Rockwell Automation Ethernet Design Considerations Reference Manual - Manual (Page 26)

26 Rockwell Automation Publication ENET-RM002C-EN-P - May 2013
Chapter 2 Ethernet Infrastructure Components
Media Converters Media converters let you mix fiber and copper (twisted-pair) cables in the same
system.
Use a switch to mix media:
• Physical layer devices offer no buffering or advanced diagnostic features.
• Physical layer devices are easily overrun by an EtherNet/IP system (no
buffering = lost data).
• Layer 2 devices have buffering, QoS, and other management features.
Bridges A bridge is a device that isolates traffic between segments by selectively
forwarding frames to their proper destination. A bridge is transparent to the
network and protocol independent. More advanced devices that perform the
same bridging function are commonly used instead of a bridge.
Fiber Link
Ethernet
Ethernet
Ethernet
Token Ring
Bridge
Bridge
Ethernet Ethernet
Access Point
Work Group Bridge