Netgear FS509 Installation Guide - Page 13

Installation Guide for the Model FS509 Fast Ethernet Switch Model FS509 Switch Overview The NETGEAR Model FS509 Fast Ethernet Switch with a Gigabit uplink is an autosensing 10/100 Mbps switch with a Gigabit uplink interface. This high-performance switch is developed primarily to be used as a segment switch, even though it is priced as a desktop switch. All of the UTP ports on the Model FS509 switch can adapt automatically to the speed of the connected network or the PC, and the ports can operate at either 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps. In addition, each port can automatically negotiate with the connected device to operate in full-duplex mode. If the connected device is operating in half-duplex mode only or does not have the capability to participate in the negotiation process, the port will default to half-duplex mode. A manual override duplex toggle switch is also provided to force any particular port to operate in full-duplex mode. The Model FS509 switch can be used to partition a 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps network to enhance the capacity of the network to support advanced applications. In addition, the switch provides a link between traditional 10 Mbps networks and faster 100 Mbps networks. By installing a Model FS509 switch, a user can connect any 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps device to the switch without worrying about the running speed of the device. The Model FS509 switch provides a built-in upgrade path; you can remove a 10 Mbps connection and replace the connection with a 100 Mbps connection with little or no change to the rest of the network. The Model FS509 switch can be effectively used to join multiple 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet segments and to extend the reach of the network. Copper-based Fast Ethernet networks have a network diameter of up to 200 meters. The Model FS509 switch can be used to join these 200-meter segments to enable them to function as a single logical network. With one Model FS509 switch, the reach extends to 400 meters. The Gigabit Ethernet uplink port on the Model FS509 switch can be used to connect to the network backbone and shared network resources such as servers at 1000 Mbps. This full-duplex 1000BASE-SX port allows users to connect at high speed to a wiring closet or server located from 2 to 550 meters away. Because the Model FS509 switch is an ISO media access control (MAC) layer device, the switch is network protocol independent and compatible with all popular networks such as the Internet or TCP/IP, NetWare, DECnet, Microsoft NETBEUI, and LANTASTIC. Introduction 1-3