3Com 3824 Implementation Guide - Page 13

Switch Features Explained 13 For details of the auto-negotiation features supported by your Switch, please refer to the Management Quick Reference Guide that accompanies your Switch. Duplex Full duplex mode allows packets to be transmitted and received simultaneously and, in effect, doubles the potential throughput of a link. Flow Control All Switch ports support flow control, which is a mechanism that minimizes packet loss during periods of congestion on the network. Flow control is supported on ports operating in half duplex mode, and is implemented using the IEEE Std 802.3-2002 (incorporating 802.3x) on ports operating in full duplex mode. For more information about auto-negotiation and port capabilities, see Chapter 2 "Optimizing Bandwidth". Multicast Filtering Multicast filtering allows the Switch to forward multicast traffic to only the endstations that are part of a predefined multicast group, rather than broadcasting the traffic to the whole network. The multicast filtering system supported by your Switch uses IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) snooping to detect the endstations in each multicast group to which multicast traffic should be forwarded. For more information about multicast filtering, see Chapter 3 "Using Multicast Filtering". Spanning Tree Protocol and Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) and Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) are bridge-based systems that make your network more resilient to link failure and also provide protection from network loops - one of the major causes of broadcast storms. STP allows you to implement alternative paths for network traffic in the event of path failure and uses a loop-detection process to: ■ Discover the efficiency of each path. ■ Enable the most efficient path.