User`s guide

Typical Configurations 2-1
Chapter 2
Typical Configurations
Configuring Your Network
Links to a file server and links between switches often create bandwidth bottlenecks.
When a dedicated 10 Mb/s link is not fast enough, or when a network-wide upgrade
path is planned, Fast Ethernet is a viable solution.
Links to a File Server
Intense client/server traffic on the LAN may limit the overall performance of a
network. Fast Ethernet allows the file server to communicate at 100 Mb/s to a 10/100
switch such as the MultiSwitch 300, which then distributes the traffic to several 100
Mb/s or 10 Mb/s ports.
Links Between Switches
Links that run at more than 10 Mb/s are essential between switches. If the link between
two switches is at 10 Mb/s, then only one full-speed Ethernet stream can be handled at
any given time. With the 100 Mb/s connection of Fast Ethernet, 10 full-speed Ethernet
streams may be handled simultaneously using half-duplex mode. With full-duplex
mode, 20 full-speed symmetrical streams may be handled simultaneously.
An Ethernet to Fast Ethernet switch presents the network administrator with a possible
upgrade path. At first, the switch can be used simply to segment the existing network,
immediately boosting performance. Next, with the addition of a single 100 Mb/s
network interface card (NIC), a file server can be migrated to Fast Ethernet, increasing
its availability. As needed, additional file servers or individual users can be moved to
Fast Ethernet while leaving all other parts of the network running as usual. If some of
the shared Ethernet segments are still congested, but don’t warrant a full 100 Mb/s
connection, additional switches may be added to further divide the shared segments,
creating a small collapsed 100 Mb/s backbone and small switched 10 Mb/s segments.
The MultiSwitch 300s autonegotiating 10/100 ports provide unmatched flexibility
because they allow the network administrator to upgrade the network devices to 100
Mb/s as needed; existing 10 Mb/s hardware is fully compatible with the MultiSwitch
300.