Netgear FS308 Installation Guide

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The NETGEAR Model FS308 Fast Ethernet Switch provides you with a low­cost, high-performance network solution for the home or small office. It is
designed to support power users operating at either 10 megabits per second
(Mbps) or 100 Mbps.

Ethernet switches provide private, dedicated, 10 or 100 Mbps capacity to each
connected PC/server or hub/workgroup segment. The higher bandwidth enables
the use of appli ca ti ons s uch as multimedia, imagi ng, video, or high -pe rf orma nce
client-server functions among users who are spread out over the network.

With the Model FS308 Fast Ethernet Switch, this improvement is accomplished
very easily, with no change to the desktop (the network interface cards or
software and the network wiring). As a result, the performance upgrade and the
applications it enables are obtained very quickly and at a low cost.

Features

The Model FS308 switch has the following key features:

• Eight automatic spee d-sens ing (autos ensin g) 10/10 0 Mbps Et hernet ports to
provide fast information exchange, resource sharing, and client or peer-to­peer communication usi ng simple Catego ry 5 unshi elded t wisted pa ir (UTP)
cable

• IEEE 802.3u standard compliance for interoperation with all 100BASE-TX
Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps) products, 802.3i standard compliance for
interoperation with all 10BASE-T Ethernet products, and 802.3x standard
compliance for flow contro l

• Automatic address learning function to build the packet forwarding
information table, which contains up to 8,000 MAC addresses so that the
switch can support networks with as many as 8,000 devices

• Easy plug-and-play installation with no software to configure, saving time
and minimizing the potential for configuration errors

• Autosensing full-duplex or half-duplex mode of operation

• Wire-sp eed filtering an d for warding to prov ide the “tr affic c op” f unction by
directing traf fic to the approp riate port or network segment without s lowing
down the traffic

• Internal 100 to 240 V AC power supply, eliminating the need for a bulky
wall transformer

• Normal/Uplink push button to simplify network extension and allow the
switch to connect to a hub using a straight-through cable

• LEDs that provide network traffic status and data transmission speed
— Status indicators on both the front and rear panels
— Eight vista RJ-45 ports

Model FS308 Fast Ethernet Switch Installation Guide

• Home and small office friendliness
— Network ports located on the back of the hub so that cables are kept

away from the desktop
— Compact design to fit into small offices
— Compliance with the Class B EMI standard so the switch will not

interfere with your home appliances

• 5-year warranty on hub unit (1-year warranty on power supply)

Package Contents

Model FS308 switch

MODEL

FS308

AC
power
cord

8920FA

Wall Mount

Installation kit

Installation guide,

Warranty & Owner

Registration Card,

Support Information Card

8

PORT

10/100Mbps

Fast Ethernet Switch

Auto 10/100 Mbps

100 Link/Act.

10 Link/Act.

FDX/Col.

Power

12345678

Verify that your package contains the following:

• Model FS308 switch

• Mounting kit (for wall installation)

• This installation guide

• Warranty & Owner Registration Card

• Support Information Card

• Power cord

Model FS308 Fast Ethernet Switch Installation Guide

Product Illustra tion

LEDs

100 Link/Act
LEDs

MODEL

FS308

10 Link/Act
LEDs

8921FA

PORT

8

10/100Mbps

Fast Ethernet Switch

Auto 10/100 Mbps

Power LED

Power

100 Link/Act.

10 Link/Act.

FDX/Col.

12345678

FDX/Col

Front Panel

The front panel of the Model FS308 switch contains the following LEDs that
correspond to each network port located on the back of the hub: 100 Mbps link/
activity (100 Link/Act), 10 Mbps link/activity (10 Link/Act), and full-duplex/
collision (FDX/Col). Each vista RJ-45 network port has its own 100 Link/Act
and 10 Link/Act LED as well.

LEDs

The table below describes the activity of the LEDs.

Label Color Activity Description

Pwr (Power) Green On

Off

100 Link/Act Green On

Blinking

Power is supplied to the switch.
Power is disconnected.

The port is operating in 100 Mbps mode.
Data is being received or transmitted at 100

Mbps.

10 Link/Act Green On

The port is operating in 10 Mbps mode.
Data is being received or transmitted at 10 Mbps.

Blinking

FDX/Col Green

The port is operating in full-duplex mode.
A collision is occurring on the segment when the

YellowOnBlinking

port is operating in half-duplex mode. (Note that
some collisions are normal.)

Vista RJ-45 Network Ports with Built-in LEDs

All of the ports on the switch are 10/100 Mbps capable autosensing Ethernet
ports. Each port supports only unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable using an 8­pin RJ-45 plug. Each port uses vista RJ-45 connectors that have two LEDs—the
100 Link/Act LED and the 10 Link/Act LED.

100 Link/Act

Model FS308 Fast Ethernet Switch Installation Guide

10 Link/Act

8923EA

Normal/Uplink Push Button

The Normal/Uplink push button on the front panel of the switch allows you to
select uplink (MDI) or normal (MDI-X) wiring for port 8 on the Model FS308
switch. These ports are configured for normal wiring to connect to a PC when
the push button is in the out positio n. When the push button is pres sed in, these
ports are configured for uplink wiring to connect to another switch or to a hub,
using a straight-through twisted pair cable.

Rear Panel

The rear panel of the Model FS308 switch has eight autosensing 10/100 Mbps
Ethernet ports. The rear panel also has full-duplex (FDX) and auto-duplex
(AUTO) toggle switches and a power adapter receptacle for the supplied power
cord.

Power
receptacle

100-240 VAC, 50-60Hz, 0.35A

8922FA

100M 10M

Normal/Uplink

87654321

Normal/Uplink
push button

vista RJ-45
network ports

On = Link Blinking = Activity

Duplex Mode
switches

8765432

FDX
AUTO

Duplex Mode

FDX/AUTO Duplex Toggle Switches

One full-duplex (FDX) and auto-duplex (AUTO) toggle switch is assigned to
each 10/100 Mbps port, enabling the communication mode to be set to either
full-duplex or auto-duplex mode. Full-duplex mode doubles throughput of
point-to-point connections by letting individual ports transmit and receive
concurrently when the connecting device also supports full-duplex mode.

Setting the toggle switch to AUTO on the 10/100 Mbps port enables the port to
determine duplex mode by coordinating with the remote port. In most cases, the
toggle switch should be set to AUTO. If the remote port is a repeater or hub or
cannot provide the proper signal to indicate its duplex capability, the port
defaults to half-duplex mode.

Set the port to full-duplex mode only if the remote device is full-duplex capable
but cannot provide the proper signal to indicate so.

Model FS308 Fast Ethernet Switch Installation Guide