3COM 16 Plus User Manual

OfficeConnect

Dual Speed Switch 5 plus (3C16790) Dual Speed Switch 8 plus (3C16791) Dual Speed Switch 16 plus (3C16792)

User Guide

3Com Corporation ■ 5400 Bayfront Plaza ■ Santa Clara, California ■ 95052-8145

No part of this documentation may be reproduced in any form or by any means or used to make any derivative work (such as translation, transformation, or adaptation) without written permission from 3Com Technologies.

3Com Technologies reserves the right to revise this documentation and to make changes in content from time to time without obligation on the part of 3Com Technologies to provide notification of such revision or change.

3Com Technologies provides this documentation without warranty, term, or condition of any kind, either implied or expressed, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties, terms or conditions of merchantability, satisfactory quality, and fitness for a particular purpose. 3Com may make improvements or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this documentation at any time.

If there is any software on removable media described in this documentation, it is furnished under a license agreement included with the product as a separate document, in the hard copy documentation, or on the removable media in a directory file named LICENSE.TXT or !LICENSE.TXT. If you are unable to locate a copy, please contact 3Com and a copy will be provided to you.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT LEGEND

If you are a United States government agency, then this documentation and the software described herein are provided to you subject to the following:

All technical data and computer software are commercial in nature and developed solely at private expense. Software is delivered as “Commercial Computer Software” as defined in DFARS 252.227-7014 (June 1995) or as a “commercial item” as defined in FAR 2.101(a) and as such is provided with only such rights as are provided in 3Com’s standard commercial license for the Software. Technical data is provided with limited rights only as provided in DFAR

252.227-7015 (Nov 1995) or FAR 52.227-14 (June 1987), whichever is applicable. You agree not to remove or deface any portion of any legend provided on any licensed program or documentation contained in, or delivered to you in conjunction with, this User Guide.

Unless otherwise indicated, 3Com registered trademarks are registered in the United States and may or may not be registered in other countries.

3Com and OfficeConnect are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation. The 3Com logo is a trademark of 3Com Corporation

Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Novell and NetWare are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc.

All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

The OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switches are covered by a lifetime limited warranty, which also includes the power adapter. To qualify for the warranty, you must submit a registration card or register on-line at http://support.3com.com/registration/frontpg.pl. The OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switches are covered by a free 90-day telephone support.

The lifetime limited warranty is not offered where restricted or prohibited by law.

Please e-mail any comments about this document to 3Com at: pddtechpubs_ comments@3Com.com. Please include the document title (OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch 5 plus, Switch 8 plus, Switch 16 plus User Guide), part number (DUA1679-0AAA03) and if appropriate, the page number.

Introduction 4

Creating your Network 5

Dual Speed Switch 5 plus—Front 5 Dual Speed Switch 8 plus—Front 6 Dual Speed Switch 16 plus—Front 7 Dual Speed Switch 16 plus—Rear 8

How the Switch Can Be Used 9

Switching 9 Connecting 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX Networks 10

Before You start 10

Unit Connections 10 Worksation Connections 10 Twisted Pair (TP) Cables 10

Stacking the Units Together 11

The Rubber Feet 11

The Stacking Clip 11 Positioning Your Switch 12 Securing Your Switch 12 Connecting Workstations and Other Equipment to Your Switch

Connecting OfficeConnect Units to Your Switch 13

Checking Unit Connections 14

Spot Checks 14

Problem Solving 15

Dimensions and Standards 19

Dimensions and Operating Conditions 19 Standards 19

Environmental Statements 20

End Of Life Statement 20 Regulated Materials Statement 20 Environmental Statement about the Documentation 20 Environmental Statement about the Product Packaging 20

Important Safety Information 21

Wichtige Sicherheitshinweise 22

Consignes importantes de sécurité 23

Online Technical Services 24 World Wide Web Site 24 3Com Knowledgebase Web Services 24

Technical Support 24

Support from Your Network Supplier 25 Support from 3Com 25 Returning Products for Repair 27

3Com Corporation Limited Warranty 29

Regulatory Notices 31

Networking Terminology 17

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the world of networking with 3Com®. In the modern business environment, communication and sharing information is crucial. Computer networks have proved to be one of the fastest modes of communication but until recently, only large businesses could afford the networking advantage. The OfficeConnect has changed this, bringing networks to the small office.

As the power of workstations and business applications increases, heavier demands are made on the available network bandwidth that if unchecked, can lead to performance problems in a hub-based setup. Installing the OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch 5 plus (3C16790), Switch 8 plus (3C16791) or Switch 16 plus (3C16792) allows your network to be segmented so that traffic can be contained effectively, reducing the overall load without affecting access to critical resources.

This guide will use the term 'Switch' when referring to the Dual Speed Switch 5 plus, Switch 8 plus or Switch 16 plus.

The Switch is ideal for use with other OfficeConnect products, as shown in Figure 1. It is compact and attractively designed for desktop use. The Switch is part of the OfficeConnect range which neatly stack together with the OfficeConnect Stacking Clip.

product range from 3Com

Figure 1 Small Network with OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch plus (Circle Shows Units Clipped Together)

This Switch has five, eight or sixteen 10/100BASE-TX ports. This allows you to set up a network with both 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX hubs and workstations.

CREATING YOUR NETWORK

Dual Speed Switch 5 plus—Front

Dual Speed Switch 8 plus—Front

Dual Speed Switch 16 plus—Front

Dual Speed Switch 16 plus—Rear

Power Adapter socket

Only use the power adapter that is supplied with this OfficeConnect Switch. Do not use any other adapter.

10/100BASE-TX ports

Use suitable TP cable with RJ-45 connectors. You can connect the OfficeConnect Switch to any workstation or OfficeConnect hub that has a 10BASE-T, 100BASETX or 10/100BASE-TX port. Each port is capable of auto-negotiating for 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps operation. All ports have an automatic MDI / MDIX feature, which means either a 'straight through' or 'crossover' UTP cable can be used to connect to any port. The switch will automatically detect which wiring practice has been followed and will compensate accordingly.

WARNING: RJ-45 ports. These are shielded RJ45 data sockets. They cannot be used as standard traditional telephone sockets, or to connect the unit to a traditional PBX or public telephone network. Only connect RJ-45 data connectors, network telephony systems, or network telephones to these sockets. Either shielded or unshielded data cables with shielded or unshielded jacks can be connected to these data sockets.

WARNHINWEIS: RJ-45-Anschlüsse Diese Porte sind geschützte Datensteckdosen. Sie dürfen weder wie normale traditionelle Telefonsteckdosen noch für die Verbindung der Einheit mit einem traditionellem privatem oder öffentlichem Telefonnetzwerk gebraucht werden. Nur RJ-45-Datenanscluße, Telefonnetzsysteme or Netztelefone an diese Steckdosen anschließen.

Entweder geschützte oder ungeschützte Buchsen dürfen an diese Datensteckdosen angeschlossen werden.

AVERTISSEMENT: Ports RJ-45. Ceux-ci sont protégés par des prises de données. Ils ne peuvent pas être utilisés comme prises de téléphone conventionnelles standard, ni pour la connection de l’unité à un réseau téléphonique central privé ou public. Raccorder seulement connecteurs de données RJ-45, systèmes de réseaux de téléphonie ou téléphones de réseaux à ces prises. Il est possible de raccorder des câbles protégés ou non protégés avec des jacks protégés ou non protégés à ces prises de données.

How the Switch Can Be Used

Switching

When a network of repeater hubs is in operation, any information that is sent by the workstations is passed around the whole network (regardless of the destination of the information). This can result in a lot of unnecessary traffic that can slow the network down. The Switch solves this problem because it ‘listens’ to the network and automatically learns what workstations can be reached through its ports. It can then selectively pass on any information by transmitting the traffic from the relevant port only (instead of all ports like a repeater hub). This operation is called ‘switching’.

The Switch effectively divides up your network, localizing the network traffic and passing on traffic as necessary (as shown in Figure 2). If you have workstations that communicate frequently in the same part of the network, traffic between them is not passed on unnecessarily to the remainder of the network, thereby reducing the load. If you have any high performance workstations that require a lot of bandwidth, connect them directly to the Switch.

whether it should be directed through the normal or high priority channel. This feature can be useful, for example, during excessive loads when one type of traffic may require priority over another. The Switch is configured to to comply with VLAN priority tagged frames and IP TOS / DSCP priority encoded frames.

Figure 2 The Switch Separates Your Network and Controls the Information Effectively

The Switches have a built in feature to aid network performance at times of excessive load. It is called Priority Queuing. When a packet is received, the Switch will examine it to see if it has been priority encoded. If it has, the Switch will then read the priority level and determine

Connecting 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX Networks

The 10/100 ports can each be connected to either a 10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX network. If you have both types of network, you can join them together using the Switch allowing all your workstations to communicate. Alternatively, if you use 10BASE-T and want to improve network performance by introducing 100BASE-TX technology, the Switch protects your existing workstations because it maintains 10BASE-T connections to them.

Before You start

Your OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch plus comes with:

■ One power adapter for use with the Switch.

■ Four rubber feet.

■ A stacking clip.

Worksation Connections

To connect workstations or other equipment (such as servers) directly to your Switch, you need:

1 One 10BASE-T,

100BASE-TX or

10/100BASE-TX adapter card for each workstation. 3Com produce a range of easy to install network

adapters, which provide your workstation with a 10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX connection.

2 An operating system (for example, NetWare or Windows

95/98) with network support configured, running on your workstations.

3 One suitable twisted pair cable for each workstation.

Unit Connections

To connect OfficeConnect units (such as hubs and other switches) to your Switch, you need:

■ One suitable TP cable for each unit.

Twisted Pair (TP) Cables

Cables can be shielded (screened) or unshielded; we recommend that you use shielded cable. Cables used for 100BASE-TX connections must be data grade (Category 5). The maximum length you can use is 100m (328ft).

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