Chapter 2: Physical Description; Front Panels; 10/100/1000 Mbps Rj-45 Ports; Figure 2-1. Front Panel Of The Gsm712 Managed Gigabit Switch - NETGEAR GSM712 Installation Manual

CHAPTER 2: PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

This chapter describes the hardware features of the NETGEAR Model GSM712 Managed Gigabit Switch. Topics include:
Front and back panels
10/100/1000 Mbps auto-sensing RJ-45 ports
GBIC module bays
LED descriptions
Console port

Front Panels

Figures 2-1 and 2-2 show the key components on the front and back panels of the NETGEAR Model GSM712 Managed Gigabit Switch.
The front panel contains LEDs, Rest Button, RJ-45 jacks, GBIC module bays, and a console port. The back panel has a standard AC power
receptacle for accommodating the supplied power cord.

10/100/1000 Mbps RJ-45 Ports

As Figure 2-1 shows, the GSM712 Managed Gigabit Switch has 10 10/100/1000 Mbps RJ-45 ports. These ports are auto-sensing 10/100/1000
Mbps ports: When you insert a cable into an RJ-45 port, the switch automatically ascertains the maximum speed (10 or 100 or 1000 Mbps) and
duplex mode (half- or full-duplex) of the attached device. The 10/100/1000 Mbps ports support only unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cable terminated
with an 8-pin RJ-45 plug.
To simplify the procedure for attaching devices, all RJ-45 ports support Auto Uplink. This technology lets you attach devices to the RJ-45 ports
using either straight-through or crossover cables. When you insert a cable into the switch's RJ-45 port, the switch automatically:
•
Senses whether the cable is a straight-through or crossover cable, and
•
Determines whether the link to the attached device requires a "normal" connection (such as when connecting the port to a PC) or an
"uplink" connection (such as when connecting the port to a router, switch, or hub).
•
After ascertaining this information, the switch automatically configures the RJ-45 port to enable communications with the attached
device, without requiring user intervention. In this way, the Auto Uplink technology compensates for setting uplink connections, while
eliminating concern about whether to use crossover or straight-through cables when attaching devices.
Warning! You must use Link Aggregation (a.k.a. Port Trunking) to create multiple links between switches. Using Auto Uplink to create multiple
active paths between any two network devices can cause undesirable loops in the network, resulting in an endless broadcast traffic that disables
your network. Loops occur when there are alternate routes between two network devices. In Figure 2-3, for example, a loop is created by
connecting two RJ-45 ports on a NETGEAR Model GSM712 Managed Gigabit Switch to a router containing a 4-port switch. The Spanning Tree
protocol will prevent loops, if that advanced feature is enabled.

Figure 2-1. Front Panel of the GSM712 Managed Gigabit Switch

Figure 2-2. Back Panel of the GSM712 Managed Gigabit Switch

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