The diagram below shows one possible configuration of a 12-Port Switch in a
Fast Ethernet environment; if you have an 16 or 24-Port Switch, the configura-
tion remains the same. Note that like all Fast Ethernet network hardware, the
switch requires Category 5 UTP network cabling, which is available at most
computer stores.
In this example, each workstation has access to all of the resources on the net-
work -- 10Mbps users can access the 100Mbps stations, and vice-versa. While
allowing the 10Mbps and 100Mbps segments to communicate, the switch helps
optimize traffic by adding switching to the network, which can improve perform-
ance by up to 80% (even on the slower 10Mbps segment). Notice that the
servers are both connected directly to the switch. This improves server access
times for all users.
7
File Server
DSSX12
Web Server
10Mbps
Segment
100Mbps
Segment