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Chapter 1: Overview
18
Ports
The AT-GS950/8 switch features eight twisted pair ports and two SFP
ports. See the following sections for descriptions of the ports.
Twisted Pair
Ports
The twisted pair ports feature 8-pin RJ-45 copper connectors. (For the port
pinouts, refer to “Connectors and Port Pinouts” on page 50.)
The ports are 10Base-T, 100Base-TX, and 1000Base-T compliant and are
capable of 10 megabits per second (Mbps), 100 Mbps, and 1000 Mbps
speeds.
In addition, the twisted pair ports are IEEE 802.3u Auto-Negotiation
compliant. With Auto-Negotiation, the switch automatically matches the
highest possible common speed between each switch port and each end
node. For example, if an end node is capable of only 10 Mbps, the switch
sets the port connected to the end node to 10 Mbps.
Each twisted pair port can operate in either half- or full-duplex mode. The
twisted pair ports are IEEE 802.3u-compliant and Auto-Negotiate the
duplex mode setting.
Note
For the switch to set the duplex mode for each port correctly, the
end nodes that you connect to the switch ports must also use Auto-
Negotiation. Otherwise, a duplex mode mismatch can occur,
affecting network performance. For further information, refer to
“Duplex Mode” on page 23.
Each twisted pair port has a maximum operating distance of 100 m
(328 feet).
For 10 Mbps operation, Category 3 or better 100 ohm shielded or
unshielded twisted pair cabling is required. For 100 or 1000 Mbps
operation, Category 5 and Enhanced Category 5 (5E) 100 ohm shielded
or unshielded twisted pair cabling is required.
The twisted pair ports are auto-MDI. Consequently, they automatically
configure themselves as either MDI or MDI-X. This feature allows you to
use either straight-through or crossover twisted pair cables to connect
devices to the ports.
SFP Ports The two SFP ports can operate in place of their twisted pair port
equivalents to provide fiber optic connectivity. When an SFP is inserted in
the SFP ports (7 or 8) and a fiber optic cable is connected to ports 7/7R or
8/8R, the corresponding twisted pair port is disabled.