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Ethernet Workgroup Design 6-19
Ethernet
Figure 6-6. Ethernet Remote Office Implementation
The High-End Department
The high-end department is a workgroup with specialized needs, demanding
high reliability or high throughput to each and every station. The high-end
department typically consists of the most demanding users on the network, and
connections between them must be fast, reliable, and predictable.
One of the ways to supply predictability and speed to users in the high-end
workgroup is through per-port switching. In a switched Ethernet workgroup, an
Ethernet switch provides dedicated 10 Mbps Ethernet links to each and every
user. This means that there will always be an available, full-speed Ethernet link
that may be set up between any two Ethernet stations in the high-end workgroup.
The use of switched connections in an Ethernet environment provides an added
benefit to stations requiring high throughput. Since each Ethernet link is
dedicated, and will receive traffic from no other sources than the station and the
switch, if the network is within the allotted limitations, the Ethernet link can
operate in full-duplex mode. This method of operation allows a station or switch
to transmit data on one portion of the Ethernet link while simultaneously
receiving data on the other portion of the link. This concurrent transmission and
reception effectively doubles the throughput of the Ethernet link, from 10 to
20 Mbps.
Abstracting the Design Process
The design of a high-end department’s workgroup solution is a highly
customized procedure. The organization of the workgroup determines the
distribution and provision of switched ports and switched uplinks. The decisions
to be made are similar to those dealt with in other design strategies, but the
demanding nature of the high-end department tends to influence the decisions
toward greater control and higher functionality.
Business
Office
Servers (3)
Office
Stations
(21)
MicroMMAC-24
with BRIM-W6
SEH-24
WAN (56K)
To Main Office
2094n18