Ethernet Switch Connectivity

Introduction for Non-Networking Engineer

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1
Using UTP Cat5/5e/6 (on RJ45 interface)

Up to 100m

UTP
Cat 5 or 5e or 6

Ethernet (10BaseT, 10Mbps)

or
Fast Ethernet (100BaseTX, 100Mbps)
or
Gigabit Ethernet (1000BaseT, 1000Mbps)

Both end should be the same. Available interface depend on the switch type.
10/100BaseTX and 10/100/1000BaseT interface type offer auto negotiation
capability (highest speed whenever possible)
2
Direct or Through The Panels

Up to 100m

UTP
Cat 5 or 5e or 6

UTP
Cat 5 or 5e or 6

Up to 100m
3
Using Fiber Optic (FO)

To reach more than 100m…

…need Fiber Optic

Multi Mode Fiber (MMF) or
Single Mode Fiber (SMF)

Fast Ethernet (100BaseFX, 100Mbps,

up to 2Km on MMF)
or
Gigabit Ethernet (1000Mbps,
distance depend on interface and FO)
or
10 Gigabit Ethernet (10,000Mbps,
distance depend on interface and FO)

Both end should be the same speed. Available interface depend on the switch type.
4
FO Types

5
 Switch and Transceiver
Transceiver = transmitter + receiver
(addtional interface option, e.g. for FO)
GBIC = Gigabit Interface Converter
SFP = Small Form-Factor Pluggable
(mini-GBIC)
XFP = 10 Gigabit with a bit bigger FP
SFP+ = 10 Gigabit of SFP size

SFP GBIC Slot

RJ45

XFP Slot SFP GBIC Slot

SFP and SFP+ look the same.
(bigger size than Always check documentation
SFP GBIC)
SFP+ GBIC Slot
Very rarely used since SFP+
interface is available

6
Pair and Single Core transmission

Common transmission
with a pair of FO cores receive
receive transmit

transmit

Transmission with a
single FO cores

For example 10G LR BiDi / BX transceiver pair

7
Common Gigabit Transceiver Types

MMF

8
Common 10 GE Transceiver Types

on OM1 MMF
on OM1 MMF
on OM2 MMF
on OM3 MMF