Ovislink Ether-GSH4T User Manual

Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T

Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T

Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T

Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T

Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T

Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T Ether-GSH4T

Ether-GSH4T

All Gigabit Ethernet Switch

4 × 1000Base-TX Gigabit ports

NWay 10/100/1000BASE-TX

Smart All Gigabit Ethernet Switch

with VLAN, Priority, Broadcast Storm Control and port-mirror Function

User’s Manual

Ether-GSH4T V.1.0

August 1, 2002

Copyright © OvisLink Corp.

Trademarks

All rights reserved.
OvisLink and OvisLink Logo are registered trademarks of OvisLink Corp. Other product
names and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
owners.

FCC Warning

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the requirements for a Class A
digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These requirements are designed for
reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment operating in a
commercial environment. This equipment can generate and radiate electromagnetic energy
and, if not installed and used in accordance with this guide, may cause significant
interference with radio communication. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is
likely to cause interference to household appliances, in which case the user will be required
to amend at his or her own expense.

CE Mark Warning

This is a Class A product. In a domestic environment, this product may cause radio
interference, in which case the user may be required to take adequate preventive measures.

Disclaimer

Contents in this manual are subject to changes without prior notice.

About

About tttthis

About About

This User’s Manual aims at helping users to know the key features of

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch and to install it in a
10/100/1000BASE-TX Gigabit Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN).

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User

User’’’’s Manual

UserUser

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s Manuals Manual

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................ I

PRODUCT OVERVIEW ....................................................................... 1

Introduction .......................................................................................................................1

4× 1000Base-TX port Gigabit Ethernet Switch with VLAN, Priority, Broadcast Storm

Control, and Port Mirroring Capability........................................................................... 1

Port-based VLAN for Instant Connectivity and Workgroup Privacy .............................1

4-level Priority Queuing for Class of Service (CoS)....................................................... 1

Port Configuration via Smart Console ............................................................................ 1

Best solution for Server Farm or Gigabit backbone switch ............................................ 2

Broadcast Storm Control................................................................................................. 2

Store-and-Forward Architecture against Packet Loss ..................................................... 2

Active Flow Control........................................................................................................ 2

Non-blocking Wire Speed............................................................................................... 2

System/Port Status Information at a Glance ................................................................... 2

VLAN, Priority and Port-Mirroring Configuration through Console Port ................ 3

What is VLAN? .................................................................................................................3

Defining VLAN............................................................................................................... 3

Port-based VLAN............................................................................................................ 3

Table Maintenance via Signaling .................................................................................... 3

802.1q VLAN Standard................................................................................................... 4

What is Priority Queuing? ...............................................................................................4

What’s Port Mirroring? ................................................................................................... 4

What’s Broadcast Storm Control .................................................................................... 4

Why Migrate to Gigabit Networking? ............................................................................ 4

Product Features ............................................................................................................... 6

Basic Features .................................................................................................................6

Advanced Features .......................................................................................................... 6

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Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Table of Contents

PREPARATION BEFORE INSTALLATION ........................................ 8

Unpack the Package .......................................................................................................... 8

The Front Panel.................................................................................................................9

The Rear Panel ..................................................................................................................9

Power Switch................................................................................................................... 9

AC Power Connector ...................................................................................................... 9

Console Port .................................................................................................................. 10

Ventilators........................................................................................................................ 10

INSTALLATION OF THE SWITCH.................................................... 12

Quick Installation............................................................................................................ 12

3 Steps to Quick Installation .........................................................................................12

Why Copper-wired Gigabit Connection? ..................................................................... 12

Rack Mounting ................................................................................................................ 13

Desktop Installation ........................................................................................................ 13

Installation Site Preparation .......................................................................................... 14

Cabling Requirements ....................................................................................................14

RJ-45 station port cable requirements:.......................................................................... 15

Straight-through cabling requirements.......................................................................... 15

Crossover cabling requirements .................................................................................... 16

1000BASE-T cabling requirements .............................................................................. 16

Connecting to Power ....................................................................................................... 17

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

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Table of Contents

EXPANDING YOUR NETWORK ....................................................... 18

Connectivity Rules........................................................................................................... 18

10 Mbps Connection (10BASE-T)................................................................................ 18

Copper-wired 100/1000 Mbps Connection (100/1000BASE-T) .................................. 18

Connecting to another Switch/Hub ............................................................................... 19

Straight-through Cable Connection............................................................................... 19

RJ-45 Station Port Description...................................................................................... 19

RJ-45 Gigabit Port Description ..................................................................................... 20

Summary: ...................................................................................................................... 20

Copper-wired Gigabit Connection ................................................................................ 20

Connecting via Console Port to Host PC ...................................................................... 21

Summary .......................................................................................................................21

Transmission Modes .......................................................................................................22

Copper-wired Gigabit ports (1000BASE-T Transmission) .......................................... 22

Centralized Server Farms .............................................................................................. 22

Gigabit Backbone Connections ...................................................................................... 23

Benefits of VLAN ............................................................................................................ 23

Advantage of VLAN Switching over Routing.............................................................. 23

Virtual Workgroups....................................................................................................... 23

Higher Performance and Reduced Latency................................................................... 24

Ease of Administration.................................................................................................. 24

Saving Costs.................................................................................................................. 24

Security.......................................................................................................................... 24

Reduction of Routing for Broadcast Containment........................................................ 24

Infrastructural VLANs ..................................................................................................24

LED INDICATORS............................................................................. 26

Comprehensive LEDs ..................................................................................................... 26

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Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Table of Contents

System LED .................................................................................................................. 26

Diagnostic LEDs ........................................................................................................... 26

Station Port LEDs.......................................................................................................... 26

Power LED.......................................................................................................................27

Diagnostic LEDs .............................................................................................................. 27

BCST/DIAG LED......................................................................................................... 27

Gigabit Port LEDs (for Port #1 ~ 4) ..............................................................................27

10M/100M/1000M Link/Act LED................................................................................ 27

FDX/COL LED............................................................................................................. 27

LED Summary Table...................................................................................................... 28

CONFIGURING SMART MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS ...................... 29

Making RS-232 Cable Connection to the Host PC....................................................... 29

Using Windows HyperTerminal for Smart Configuration of VLAN, Priority and

Port-Mirroring ................................................................................................................ 30

Run Windows HyperTerminal utility............................................................................ 30

Hot Keys ........................................................................................................................... 33

Port Status........................................................................................................................ 33

Port Configurations......................................................................................................... 34

Port Mirror Configurations ...........................................................................................36

VLAN Configurations..................................................................................................... 37

Create a VLAN Group ..................................................................................................38

Add/Remove a port to a VLAN Group ......................................................................... 38

Separate VLAN groups ................................................................................................. 39

Overlapping VLANs ..................................................................................................... 39

Miscellaneous Configurations ........................................................................................ 40

Reset the Device to Default Setting ................................................................................ 40

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Table of Contents

VLAN CONFIGURATION BASICS....................................................... 42

Scenario: Setting up 3 Separate VLANs sharing 1 Server .......................................... 42

Procedures: .................................................................................................................... 42

APPENDIX A PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS.................................................. 44

APPENDIX B TROUBLESHOOTING.............................................................. 46

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Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Table of Contents

Figures

Fig. 2-1 Package Contents............................................................................................... 8

Fig. 2-2 RS-232 Cable for Console connection ..............................................................9

Fig. 2-3 Front Panel......................................................................................................... 9

Fig. 2-3 Rear Panel........................................................................................................ 10

Fig. 2-4 Console Port .................................................................................................... 10

Fig. 2-5 Cooling Fan housed within fan tray ................................................................ 11

Fig. 3-2 Fastening the brackets on the switch ............................................................... 13

Fig. 3-3 Attaching the Switch to a 19-inch rack ........................................................... 13

Fig. 3-4 Desktop installation ......................................................................................... 14

Fig 3-5 10/100/1000BASE-T pin assignments for RJ-45 connector ...........................15

Fig 3-6 Pin assignments for straight-through cabling ................................................. 16

Fig 3-7 10/100BASE-TX pin assignments for crossover cabling................................. 16

Fig 3-8 Connecting the Switch to power outlet............................................................. 17

Fig. 4-1 Connecting two switches ................................................................................. 19

Fig. 4-2 Pin assignments of crossover cabling for 10/100BASE-TX .........................19

Fig. 4-3 Straight-through/crossover cabling for 10/100BASE-TX.............................. 20

Fig. 4-4 Using twisted-pair cables to connect the copper-wired gigabit ports.............. 21

Fig. 4-5 Connecting to the host PC via console port..................................................... 21

Fig. 4-6 Server Farm .....................................................................................................22

Fig 4-7 Gigabit Switch Bone......................................................................................... 23

Fig. 5-1 Front-panel LED indicators ............................................................................ 26

Fig. 6-1 RS-232 Cable................................................................................................... 29

Fig. 6-2 Console Port .................................................................................................... 29

Fig. 6-3 RS-232 Cable................................................................................................... 30

Fig 7-1 VLAN Example................................................................................................ 42

Tables

Table 3-1 Using straight-through and crossover cables ................................................ 15

Table 3-2 1000BASE-T pin assignments for RJ-45 connector..................................... 16

Table 4-1 1000BASE-T pin assignments for RJ-45 connector.................................... 20

Table 5-1 Station Port LEDs ......................................................................................... 28

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Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Product Overview

Introduction

4× 1000Base-TX port Gigabit Ethernet Switch with VLAN, Priority,
Broadcast Storm Control, and Port Mirroring Capability

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch is an auto-sensing and auto-negotiating Gigabit Ethernet
Switch with VLAN, ,Priority, Port-Mirroring, and Broadcast Storm Control capability. Its four
10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit ports provide 10/100/1000Mbps connections to the server group and
gigabit switches

Ether-GSH4T’s unique switching fabric provides non-blocking full wire speed for all ports. For
conventional uplinking to another switch/hub using ordinary straight-through cable, it also provides
one Uplink port (shared with port #1). Each port provides up to 2000Mbps in full duplex mode.
With its auto-sensing, Ether-GSH4T automatically detects the speed of the devices you plug into,
and routes the incoming data to its destination. Its auto-negotiating function allows existing devices
running at different speeds to communicate easily within the same network.

Port-based VLAN for Instant Connectivity and Workgroup
Privacy

Ether-GSH4T supports up to 4 port-based VLAN groups. VLAN can ensure instant connectivity
and workgroup privacy. Since each station port can be configured to whichever VLAN group, it
offers utmost flexibility for workgroup assignment as to ensure workgroup privacy. For those ports
that join a VLAN, it offers instant connectivity without further configuration efforts from network
administrator. Members of a same VLAN group will be included within a same broadcast domain,
and will feel exactly as they are on the same network segment (though they might not belong to the
same physical network segment).

4-level Priority Queuing for Class of Service (CoS)

Ether-GSH4T also provides 4-level priority queuing for small-to-medium enterprise networks that
implement regular video conference and voice streaming service. High Priority setting ensures that
traffic with a high priority, such as video and voice data, is propagated with greater urgency than
lower priority traffic.

Port Configuration via Smart Console

VLAN, ,Priority, and Port-Mirroring function of Ether-GSH4T is configurable via the console port.

1 Product Overview

1

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

1 Product Overview

Before you can utilize console port for VLAN, ,Priority, and Port-Mirroring configuration, you must
connect the console port of Ether-GSH4T to the COM port (RS-232 interface) of the host PC, using
a RS-232 cable. For the detailed information of VLAN, Priority and Port-Mirroring configuration,
please refer to the next section, VLAN, Priority & Port-Mirroring Configuration through Console as
well as Chapter 6, Configuring Smart Management Functions

Best solution for Server Farm or Gigabit backbone switch

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch is equipped with 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports. It is most
suited to be used as the backbone switch for Server group or Mixed Gigabit switches

Broadcast Storm Control

The Ether-GSH4T automatically filters out the broadcast traffic when the broadcast packets exceed
5% of the total traffic. Broadcast storm can significantly impede the performance of the network.
The Ether-GSH4T protects your network from such situations.

Store-and-Forward Architecture against Packet Loss

When network is under heavy traffic, the shared memory buffer in the switching devices might yield
incorrect detections due to overfed memory buffer. This setback can happen either when data is
transmitted in IEEE802.3x Full Duplex or Back Pressure Flow Control mode. To solve this problem,
Ether-GSH4T utilizes a fixed memory buffer allocation with Store-and-forward transmission to
ensure an effective buffer allocation for each port.

Store-and-forward transmission controls data flow from transmitting to receiving nodes with the
receiving buffer threshold adjusted to an optimal value, thus guaranteeing against all possible packet
losses.

Active Flow Control

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch implements in full duplex mode a flow control that is
compliant to IEEE 802.3x standard. While in half duplex mode, it employs an optional Back
Pressure Flow Control to stall the incoming data when port buffers are saturated. With this flow
control mechanism, it can be ensured that frames dropped during transmission are reduced to a
minimum.

Non-blocking Wire Speed

Ether-GSH4T’s non-blocking cross-bar matrix architecture provides high-end performance for
departmental and workgroup environments at a fraction of the cost of similar devices. Typically,
this type of architecture was found only in high-end switches designed to handle huge corporate
networks. With bandwidth needs and network efficiency concerns, Ether-GSH4T’s switching
fabric design is the perfect answer for solution.

System/Port Status Information at a Glance

There are 2 sets of LEDs on the front panel: System LED and Station port LEDs,. The System LEDs
consist of the Power LED, the BCST(Broadcast Storm Control)/Diag and OvUn_Flow LED.
The station LEDs consist of the 10M Link/Act, 100M Link/Act, 1000M Link/Act, and FDX/Col

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

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1 Product Overview

VLAN, Priority and Port-Mirroring Configuration through
Console Port

Ether-GSH4T is pre-installed with specific firmware in its nonvolatile flash memory to enable
VLAN, Priority and Port-Mirroring configuration function. Through a RS-232 cable connection via
its console port to the COM port of host PC, Ether-GSH4T allows network administrator to
perform Smart Configuration from the host PC with convenience.

Since smart management configuration is performed through console port instead of within the
Ethernet network, it is thus called the out-of-band network management. The out-of-band network
management also allows extra security since its configuration information is not mingled with the
Ethernet network itself.

For further details concernings Smart Management configuration, please refer to Chapter 6,
Configuring your Network for VLAN, Priority and Port-Mirroring.

What is VLAN?

Defining VLAN

What is VLAN? Since VLAN solutions and implementations are still very vendor-specific, to define
precisely what VLANs will certainly cause controversy. Nevertheless, most would agree that a
VLAN can roughly be equated as a broadcast domain. More specifically, VLANs can be seen as a
group of end stations, perhaps on multiple physical LAN segments, which are not constrained by
their physical location and can communicate as if they were on a common LAN.

There are several ways to define VLAN membership: port grouping, frame tagging, MAC-layer
grouping, network-layer grouping, IP multicast grouping, etc. Ether-GSH4T utilizes port-grouping
(port-based VLAN) for the implementation of VLAN in your network.

Port-based VLAN

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch fulfills the initial VLAN implementation as defining
VLAN membership by groups of switch ports. Port grouping is the most common method of
defining VLAN membership, and its configuration is straightforward. But, when a user moves from
one port to another, it takes a network manager to manually reconfigure VLAN membership.

With manual VLAN configuration, both the initial setup and all subsequent moves and changes are
controlled by the network administrator, enabling a high degree of control. Also moving users
manually with VLANs may actually be easier than moving users across router subnets.

Table Maintenance via Signaling

When an end-station broadcasts its first frame, the switch resolves the end-station’s attached port
with its VLAN membership in cached address tables. As VLAN membership changes, these address
tables can be manually updated by a system administrator at a management console.

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Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

1 Product Overview

802.1q VLAN Standard

In March, 1996, the IEEE 802.1 Internet-working Subcommittee completed the initial phase of
investigation for developing a VLAN standard. The standard, known as 802.1Q, represents a major
milestone in enabling VLANs to be implemented. Since the rapid deployment of LAN switching
from around 1995, the shift toward LAN switching as a replacement for local/departmental routers,
or even shared media devices (hubs) is just accelerating for now.

What is Priority Queuing?

Priority Queuing is a method of ensuring that high priority traffic gets delivered efficiently, even
when during bursts of high traffic load. In this way, traffic such as voice data and video (services
which are streaming) are prioritized, helping steady picture and sound quality.

If you have any plans to implement network telephony or any sort of video conferencing, streaming
video/audio or any real-time applications on your network you will need Ether-GSH4T for priority
queuing. The benefit of priority queuing is that it can dramatically improve the quality of priority
services on the network. If priority queuing is not implemented then the quality of these services will
depend entirely on the load on your network. If network traffic is high, the service will not work
properly.

What’s Port Mirroring?

Port Mirror function allow users to choose a port that can receive the traffic of another port or of all
ports. This function is important for users to diagnose network problem. The “monitor port” is the
port to set to be viewed by the snooping port. The “snooping port” is the port to view the traffic of
the monitored port. The Ether-GSH4T go even one step further to let you choose whether to
monitor incoming traffic, outgoing traffic, or both.

What’s Broadcast Storm Control

Broadcast Storm is the result of too much broadcast traffic in the network. Broadcast packets are
sent to every stations in the network, thus increase the overall network traffic. Broadcast storm are
likely to decrease the network performance significantly. Broadcast Storm occurs usually when
there is a loop formed in the network or when a particular application creates unordinary amount of
broadcast packets. The Ether-GSH4T has built-in broadcast storm control which filter out the
broadcast traffic when it exceeds 5% of total traffic.

Why Migrate to Gigabit Networking?

Modern enterprises and organizations rely more and more on LANs to provide network connectivity
for a growing variety of complex and mission-critical desktop applications. The increasing
multimedia transmission on network, such as video-conferencing or remote white-boarding, and
also the converging trend to integrate voice, video and data on a single physical infrastructure are all
contributing to more bandwidth-intensive traffic.

As the volume of network traffic expands, the bandwidth provided by 10 Mbps Ethernet LAN

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

4

1 Product Overview

quickly becomes insufficient. With this consideration, 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet becomes the
leading choice to be implemented on the connections to servers and desktops. The growing use of
100 BASE-TX Fast Ethernet connections creates a clear need for an even higher bandwidth
technology at the backbone and server level.

As higher bandwidth has been deployed more and more at the edge of the network, bandwidth at the
backbone must increase considerably to accommodate the subsequent aggregate traffic. It turns out
that the most suitable solution is Gigabit Ethernet.

As an ideal solution to the bandwidth need at the backbone or server side, Ether-GSH4T Gigabit
Ethernet Switch provides exceptional bandwidth at very effective costs, while retaining the
simplicity and manageability of Ethernet and Fast Ethernet. It also provides a natural upgrade path
for your existing Ethernet installations, enabling you to leverage current workstations, networking
hardware and support-staff training without further costs.

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Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

1 Product Overview

Ether-GFSH4T 4-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Product Features

The main features of Ether-FSH4G 4-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch are as follows:

Basic Features

 Gigabit Ethernet Switch with four 10/100/1000Mbps station ports
 Fully compliant with Ethernet/Fast Ethernet standards:

- IEEE 802.3 (10BASE-T Ethernet)

- IEEE 802.3u (100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet)

- IEEE 802.3ab (1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet over twisted-pair)

- IEEE 802.1q VLAN

- IEEE 802.1p (CoS) Class of Service

- ANSI/IEEE Std 802.3 NWay auto-negotiation

 Easy plug-and-play installation
 Store and Forward transmission to prevent packet loss
 Half/Full Duplex function for both 10 and 100Mbps data rates and full duplex for

1000Mbps of stations ports

 Auto-sensing and auto-negotiating function for all 10/100/1000BASE-T station ports
 Auto MDI/MDI-X
 Active Flow control to minimize frame drops

- Half Duplex: Back Pressure control

- Full Duplex: IEEE 802.3x compliant flow control

 Comprehensive LED indicators for system/port status monitoring:

System LEDs

- Power (green) to indicate power on/off status

- OvUn_flow(yellow) to indicate when a unicast packet overflow status.

- Bcst/DIAG (yellow) to indicate either filtering of broadcast frames or if the switch
power on self test fails status

Station Port LEDs
For port 1 ~ port 4

- 10M Link/Act (green) to indicate linking status and activity in 10Mpbs mode

- 100M Link/Act (green) to indicate linking status and activity in 100Mpbs mode

- 1000M Link/Act (green) to indicate linking status and activity in 1000Mpbs mode

- FDX/Col (yellow) to indicate Half/Full Duplex transmission and collision status

 13-inch standard rack-mountable
 Cabling distance up to 100 meters for twisted-pair cable

Advanced Features

 Console interface for switch basic management and setup

VLAN

 Port-based VLAN support:

- Support up to 4 VLAN groups via smart console configuration

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

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1 Product Overview

 Each port can belong to multiple VLAN groups
 Ensure workgroup security
 Minimize network administration efforts of workgroup computing

Priority

 802.1p Class of Service (CoS)
 4-level priority: High/Normal
 Ensure bandwidth utilization for video/multimedia streaming applications

Port Mirror Configuration

 Monitored Port
 Snooping Port
 Monitored Packets

Broadcast Storm Control

 The Ether-GSH4T automatically filters out the broadcast traffic when the broadcast

packets exceed 5% of the total traffic. Broadcast storm can significantly impede the
performance of the network. The Ether-GSH4T protects your network from such
situations.

Unicast Overflow Indicator

 The switch is equipped with OvUn LED to indicate when the Unicast buffer overflow.

It makes network troubleshooting much easier.

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Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

2 Preparation before Installation

Preparation before Installation

Unpack the Package

Before you begin the installation of Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch, make sure that you
have all the necessary components that come with your package. Follow the steps below to unpack
your package contents:

1. Clear out an adequate space to unpack the package carton.

2. Open the package carton and take out the contents carefully.

3. Put back all the shipping materials such as plastic bag, paddings and linings into the shipping
carton and save them for future transport need.

After unpacking and taking out the entire package contents, you should check whether you have got
all the following items:

⌧ Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch
⌧ One AC power cord
⌧ Rack-mounting kit (screws and mounting brackets)
⌧ Support CD-ROM
⌧ RS-232 Cable

If any of these above items is missing or damaged, please contact your local dealer for replacement.

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Fig. 2-1 Package Contents

8

2 Preparation before Installation

D

The Front Panel

The front panel is where you can find the four 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit station ports. For the
technical specifications of the ports, please refer to Appendix A, Product Specifications for detailed
information. For information concerning LED indicators, please refer to Chapter 5, LED Indicators.

Power

iagnostic LEDs

Station Port

Fig. 2-2 RS-232 Cable for Console connection

Gigabit Ports

Fig. 2-3 Front Panel

The Rear Panel

The rear panel is where you can locate the power switch, AC power connector and ventilator.

Power Switch

You can turn the power switch on /off to activate/deactivate the Switch. To turn on the Switch, press
the switch to the ON position. To turn off, press the switch to the OFF position.

AC Power Connector

This is a three-pronged power connector where the power cord should be attached. Just plug the
female end of the power cord into the connector, and the male end of the power cord into an AC
power outlet. The switch supports an input voltages ranging from 100 ~ 240 V
with a maximum power output of 40 watts.

9

@ 50~60 Hz and

AC

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

2 Preparation before Installation

Console Port

Console Port

The console port is where you should connect, with a RS-232 cable, to the host PC for smart
configuration of VLAN, Priority and Port-Mirroring function. Using the HyperTerminal utility (on

Windows 95/98/2000/XP platform), you can easily configure VLAN on a per-port basis.

As the following illustration has shown, there are markings right below the console port that gives
the setting parameters (9600, N, 8, 1) for establishing a console port connection. For the details of
establishing console port connection, please refer to Chapter 6, Configuring your Network for VLAN,
Priority and Port-Mirroring.

Power Connector

Ventilator

Fig. 2-3 Rear Panel

Power Switch

Note: Please note that, in some cases, a higher baud rate such as 19200 will have difficulties in
establishing a console connection. If that is so, we suggest you to use ” 9600” for setting. In fact,
we recommend a “9600” setting for the actual HyperTerminal connection. For more information
on console connection, please refer to Chapter 6, configuring your Network for VLAN, Priority
and Port-Mirroring.

Ventilators

These two ventilator fans help circulate the cool air through the heated components inside the switch.
The air holes on both sides of the switch also serve as heat vents to dissipate the heat. For proper
ventilation, please be careful in your installation that in any case these openings should not be
blocked. An adequate margin space for the rear and both sides of the switch should be provided. Be

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Fig. 2-4 Console Port

10

2 Preparation before Installation

reminded that without proper air circulation to dissipate the heat, the internal components of the
switch might get overheated, which might lead to system failure.

Each cooling fan is housed in a fan tray, which ensures its proper functioning without getting
entangled with external wirings or improper tempering. The cooling fans are endurable and work
reliably to prevent your switch from overheating. Since the switch is equipped with two cooling fans,
heat dissipation can still function even if one fan stops running. But if you find either fan not
functioning properly, please contact your local dealer for replacement.

Fig. 2-5 Cooling Fan housed within fan tray

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Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

3 Installation of the Switch

Installation of the Switch

Quick Installation

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch is fully compliant with 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit
Ethernet standards. It features VLAN, Priority and Port-Mirroring Queuing function to enhance
your network security and fine-tune your bandwidth utilization. Ether-GSH4T is primarily
designed as an ideal solution to enhance your workgroup/corporate

3 Steps to Quick Installation

Step 1. Connect to power: Check the power cord to see if it is in good condition and ready for use.
Use the power chord to connect the Switch and the AC power outlet on wall. Power on the Switch.

Step 2. Connect the host PC to the Switch: Use a RS-232 cable to connect the console port of the
Switch and the COM port of your host PC. Configure VLAN, Priority, or Port-Mirror settings from
the host PC, using Windows HyperTerminal utility (on Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP). For further
details, please refer to Chapter 6, Configuring your Network for VLAN, Priority and
Port-Mirroring.

Step 3. Connect network devices to the Switch: connect either workstation, server, switch, bridge
or router to the station port (10/100BASE-TX), using 100 ohm unshielded twisted pair (category 5
UTP) or shielded twisted-pair (STP) cable.

Why Copper-wired Gigabit Connection?

The advantage of twisted-pair cable is that it is more pliable and easy to implement in the corporate
LAN. With the tremendous success of Ethernet in LAN, twisted-pair cable has become the most
ubiquitous networking media all over the world. It also costs less than the fiber-optic cable. But
twisted-pair cable is more susceptible to electromagnetic interference than the fiber-optic, and
reaches at most 100 meters for maximum cable distance. Fiber-optic is more expensive and needs
special technique to implement, yet it is not susceptible to electromagnetic interference and can span
a greater distance (up to 550 m) than the twisted-pair cable.

Thus, it is very convenient to choose a copper-wired gigabit switch such as Ether-GSH4T, since
you can easily set up a gigabit backbone using the kind of twisted-pair cable so ordinarily used in
10/100BASE-TX environment, if the 100-meter distance limit and possible electromagnetic
interference is of no concern. But if your network must go through an environment that is under
strong electromagnetic influence, or simply you want to span a distance well above 100 meters, you
should wisely choose the fiber-optic Gigabit connection such as provided by Ether-FSH24G with its
fiber-optic Gigabit Module.

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

12

Rack Mounting

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch can also be mounted on a standard size 19-inch rack, which
can in turn be placed in a wiring closet with other equipments.
Before you can mount the switch on the rack, first you must attach the mounting brackets on both
sides of the switch with screws, and then mount it as a unit on the rack.

To mount the unit on a rack, please follow the steps below:

Step 1. First, align the holes on the bracket with the holes on both side of the switch.
Step 2. Insert screws into the holes and then fasten the bracket on one side of the switch with a

screwdriver.
Step 3. Repeat Step 1 and 2 to fasten the bracket on the other side of the switch.
Step 4. Mount the unit on the rack and align the notches on both brackets with mounting holes

on the rack, and then secure the unit with suitable screws.

3 Installation of the Switch

Fig. 3-2 Fastening the brackets on the switch

Fig. 3-3 Attaching the Switch to a 19-inch rack

Desktop Installation

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch has four rubber pads attached on each corner of its

13

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

3 Installation of the Switch

underside. These pads serve as cushionings against vibration and prevent the switch from sliding off
its position. They also allow adequate ventilation space when you place the switch on top of another
device.

Fig. 3-4 Desktop installation

• The location you choose to install your switch and the way you configure your network
may greatly affect its performance.

Installation Site Preparation

You can mount Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch either on desktop or on a 19-inch rack. If
you plan to mount the switch on desktop, please choose a steady, level surface in a well-ventilated
area that is free from excessive dust. In any case, the installation site chosen for your switch has to
comply with the following requirements:

• The surface where you want to mount the switch must be able to sustain at least 2.7 kg.

• Do not place heavy objects on top of the switch.

• The location must preferably be free from excessive dust, away from heat vent, hot-air exhaust

and direct sunlight.

• The switch should not be placed near large electric motors or other strong electromagnetic
sources. As a reference, the strength of the electromagnetic field on site should not exceed the
(RFC) standards for IEC 801-3, Level 2(3V/M) field strength.

• The air temperature in the location should be within a range of 32 to 122 °F (0 to 55°C).

• The relative humidity in the location should not exceed 95% non-condensing humidity.

• The distance between the RJ-45 port and the standard network interface should not exceed 100

meters.

• Adequate space should be allowed in front of all the ports, so that each port is easily accessible
for cable connections.

Cabling Requirements

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch is primarily designed as a central switching device to
provide Gigabit bandwidth to your existing Ethernet/Fast Ethernet LAN. It provides you with two
built-in gigabit ports to establish two gigabit backbone connections, relieving your network
bottleneck. It fits well into the 10/100/1000 BASE-T cabling architecture to facilitate not only
10/100Mbps half/full duplex, but also 1000Mbps full-duplex transmission speed. The Uplink port
also provides a switch-to-switch cabling distance up to 100 meters.

The four RJ-45 station ports (Auto MDI/MDI-X) all require Cat. 5 twisted-pair UTP/STP cable for
connection. When configuring within the 10/100/1000BASE-TX cabling architecture, the UTP
cabling distance should be within a maximum distance of 100m.

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

14

3 Installation of the Switch

The table below describes when to use straight-through or crossover cable:

Connection
Specification
Interface
Cable to Use
To an end station Straight-through

To a hub/switch Straight-through

Maximum Distance

Table 3-1 Using straight-through and crossover cables

Station Port
10/100/1000BASE-T

RJ-45

twisted-pair cable

twisted-pair cable
100 meters

RJ-45 station port cable requirements:

10BASE-T
100BASE-TX
1000BASE-T

100 ohm Category 3, 4, 5 UTP/STP cable
100 ohm Category 5 UTP/STP cable
100 ohm Category 5 UTP/STP cable or better

Straight-through cabling requirements

Under most conditions, the 4 station ports on the Switch accept normal, straight-through cables, i.e.,
standard UTP/STP cables, which are the only ones that can be used with a RJ-45 pin layout.

Normally, 10BASE-T networks require a straight-through Cat. 3, 4, 5 UTP/STP cabling system.
The cabling system could be found in most existing Ethernet network installations.
100/1000BASE-T networks require Cat. 5 UTP/STP cabling system. The pin assignments for a
straight-through cable are shown in Figure 3-5 and 3-6.

Fig 3-5 10/100/1000BASE-T pin assignments for RJ-45 connector

15

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

3 Installation of the Switch

Fig 3-6 Pin assignments for straight-through cabling

Crossover cabling requirements

In some circumstances, however, crossover cables may be required. If a station port on your switch
must connect to a hub/switch, you must use a crossover cable, which has its transmit (TD) and
receive (RD) leads crossed over to the other end of the cable. The pin assignments for a crossover
cable are shown in Figure 3-7.

Note:
The RJ-45 pin assignment used in 1000BASE-T is different from in 10/100BASE-TX. Therefore,
a Switch-to-Switch 1000BASE-T connection does not require a crossover cable.

Fig 3-7 10/100BASE-TX pin assignments for crossover cabling

1000BASE-T cabling requirements

The 1000BASE-T gigabit port can automatically determine whether or not it needs to cross over
between pairs as shown in Table 3-2 below. Therefore, the 1000BASE-T gigabit port does not
require an external crossover cable when connecting to another Switch.

If Ether-GSH4T interoperates with a device that cannot automatically correct for crossover, it
makes the necessary adjustment prior to commencing auto-negotiation. If it interoperates with a
device that implements MDI/MDIX crossover, a random algorithm as described in IEEE 802.3
section 40.4.4 determines which device performs the crossover.

Pin Assignment MDI MDIX

MDI[0]+/- BI_DA+/- BI_DB+/­MDI[1]+/- BI_DB+/- BI_DA+/­MDI[2]+/- BI_DC+/- BI_DD+/­MDI[3]+/- BI_DD+/- BI_DC+/-

Table 3-2 1000BASE-T pin assignments for RJ-45 connector

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

16

Connecting to Power

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch features a universal auto-select power supply unit, which
allows a power connection to a wide range of input voltages from 90 to 240V
To establish its power connection, simply plug the female end of the power cord into the power
connector on the rear of the switch and the male end of the power cord into a suitable power outlet.
Once you have correctly plugged in the power, you can then turn on the Power Switch to activate the
switch.

Fig 3-8 Connecting the Switch to power outlet

Power Connector

3 Installation of the Switch

Power Switch

@ 50 ~ 60Hz.

AC

Power Outlet

17

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

4 Expanding your Network

Expanding Your Network

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch is primarily designed as a central switching device to
manage your workgroup/departmental traffic within Ethernet/Fast Ethernet/Gigabit Ethernet.

Its secure VLAN feature offers security for virtual workgroups. With your existing Ethernet/Fast
Ethernet infrastructure, you can very easily connect, expand or migrate to virtual workgroup
computing in an Ethernet/Fast Ethernet environment.

Priority Queuing ensures that traffic with a high priority, such as video and voice data, is propagated
with greater urgency than lower priority traffic.

The following sections will introduce to you the basics of network connectivity in virtual workgroup
computing within Ethernet/Fast Ethernet/Gigabit Ethernet environment as well as VLAN,
Port-Mirror and priority configuration.

Connectivity Rules

10 Mbps Connection (10BASE-T)

Ethernet connection should be configured according to the following connectivity rules:

• The maximum length for UTP cables must not exceed 100 meters from end station to a
shared-access 10BASE-T hub.

• Between any two end stations in a collision domain, there may be up to five cable segments and
four intermediate repeaters at most.

• If there is a path between any two end-stations containing five segments and four repeaters, then
at least two of the cable segments must be point-to-point link segments (e.g. 10BASE-T or
10BASE-5), while the remaining segments may be of mixed segments (e.g.: 10BASE-2 or
10BASE-5).

Copper-wired 100/1000 Mbps Connection (100/1000BASE-T)

Copper-wired Fast Ethernet/Gigabit Ethernet connection should be configured according to the
following connectivity rules:

• The maximum length for STP/UTP cable is 100 meters from end station and a shared-access
100BASE-TX hub.

• The maximum cable length is 100 meters between end station and switch/repeater; and 100
meters between switch and switch/repeater, thus making possible a maximum distance of 300
meters between two end stations.

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

18

Connecting to another Switch/Hub

There are two ways to connect to another switch or hub using specifically a straight-through cable or
a crossover cable:

Straight-through Cable Connection

When using a straight-through cable, the connection can be made through the Uplink daisy-chain
port (MDI-II) of Ether-GSH4T to any station port (MDI-X) of the other switch/hub.

4 Expanding your Network

Fig. 4-1 Connecting two switches

RJ-45 Station Port Description

The RJ-45 station ports (MDI-X) can be attached to any devices, which use a standard network
interface (e.g., a workstation, server, bridge or router). But the Uplink daisy-chain port (MDI-II) can
only be cascaded to a station port on another switch or hub.

When connecting multiple switches (or hubs) via ordinary station ports, it is important that the UTP
cables should be of crossover type as shown in the diagram above. Also, make sure you use the same
pair of wire for pin pairs 1-2,3-6,4-5 and 7-8.

Fig. 4-2 Pin assignments of crossover cabling for 10/100BASE-TX

The wire schematics for both straight-through and crossover twisted-pair cables for
10/100BASE-TX are shown as below:

19

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

4 Expanding your Network

Fig. 4-3 Straight-through/crossover cabling for 10/100BASE-TX

RJ-45 Gigabit Port Description

The RJ-45 Gigabit port can automatically determine whether it needs to cross over between pairs as
shown in Table 4-1. Therefore, the 1000BASE-T gigabit port does not require an external crossover
cable when connecting to another Gigabit switch.

Pin Assignment MDI MDIX

MDI[0]+/-

MDI[1]+/-

MDI[2]+/-

MDI[3]+/-

Table 4-1 1000BASE-T pin assignments for RJ-45 connector

BI_DA+/- BI_DB+/-

BI_DB+/- BI_DA+/-

BI_DC+/- BI_DD+/-

BI_DD+/- BI_DC+/-

Summary:

 When connecting a computer to the station port/gigabit port of the Ether-GSH4T, use a

straight-through UTP cable.

 When connecting the gigabit port of Ether-GSH4T to the station port of another hub/switch,

use a straight-through cable.

 When connecting the Uplink port (MDI-II) of Ether-GSH4T to any station port (MDI-X) of

another hub/switch, use a straight-through cable. Please note that the cabling distance is 100
meters maximum.

 When using crossover cable, the connection can be made from any station ports (MDI-X) of

Ether-GSH4T to any station ports (MDI-X) of other devices.

Copper-wired Gigabit Connection

Each Gigabit port should utilize a twisted-pair straight-through cable with a RJ-45 connector to
connect to another Gigabit RJ-45 port on other Gigabit networking device.

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

20

Connect to other Gigabit
Networking Devices

Connecting via Console Port to Host PC

Be sure you have properly connected the console port of your Ether-GSH4T to the COM port of
your host PC. If you want to perform smart configuration of VLAN groups, Port -Mirror or

priority queuing, first you have to use a RS-232 cable to connect the console port of your
Ether-GSH4T to one of the COM ports of your Host PC (as shown in Fig. 4-5). For detailed

information on configuring VLAN, Priority and Port-Mirroring function, please refer to Chapter 6,
Configuring Your Network for VLAN, Priority and Port-Mirroring.

4 Expanding your Network

Fig. 4-4 Using twisted-pair cables to connect the copper-wired gigabit ports

Fig. 4-5 Connecting to the host PC via console port

Note:
After you have established a RS-232 cable connection between Ether-GSH4T and your host PC, if
your Ether-GSH4T or the host PC is not powered on, you should power them up before you can
configure the smart management functions.

Summary

General Connectivity

 When connecting a computer to a switch, use a straight-through UTP cable.
 Ether-GSH4T has auto MDI/MDI-X function that allow use of straight-through UTP cable for

21

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

4 Expanding your Network

any type of connection.

 Cabling distance is 100 meters maximum.

Transmission Modes

Copper-wired Gigabit ports (1000BASE-T Transmission)

• 2000Mbps/FDX

• 200Mbps/FDX

• 100Mbps/HDX

• 20Mbps/FDX

• 10Mbps/HDX

Note:
The Gigabit port can operate both in half/full-duplex mode in 10/100BASE-TX transmission, but
can only operate in full duplex mode in 1000BASE-T transmission.

Centralized Server Farms

Server farms refer to the placement of departmental servers in a data center, where they can be
provided with consolidated backup uninterrupted power supply, and a proper operating
environment.

The trend toward server farm architecture has accelerated recently and is expected to continue in
order to ease administrative costs.

Overlapping VLANs enable traffic between a centralized server and clients not belonging to that
server’s VLAN, thus offering a switching efficiency that is better than the original routing solution.

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Fig. 4-6 Server Farm

22

Gigabit Backbone Connections

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch serves primarily as a backbone switch to connect your
existing Ethernet/Fast Ethernet network to Gigabit networking environment. Ether-GSH4T can
provide four 1000BASE-T gigabit backbone connections to another gigabit switch or high-end
server. With gigabit throughput, backbone traffic can be greatly improved for the ever-increasing
bandwidth demand by the internet/intranet multimedia applications.

4 Expanding your Network

Benefits of VLAN

Advantage of VLAN Switching over Routing

In a network using only routers for segmentation, segments and broadcast domains correspond on a
one-to-one basis. With the introduction of switching, organizations were able to divide the network
into smaller, layer 2-defined segments, enabling increased bandwidth per segment. And broadcast
domains could now span multiple switched segments. However, the continued deployment of
switches will divide the network into more and more segments (with fewer and fewer users per
segment) Thus, VLANs represent an alternative solution to routers for broadcast containment, since
VLANs allow switches to also contain broadcast traffic. And each network segment can contain as
few as one user approaching private port LAN switching).

The primary benefits of VLANs over routing are the creation of broadcast domains without the
disadvantages of routing and a reduction in the cost of moves and changes in the network .

Virtual Workgroups

One of the more ambitious VLAN objectives is the establishment of the virtual workgroup model.
With full VLAN implementation across the enterprise network, members of the same department or
section can all appear to share the same VLAN with most of the network traffic staying within the
same VLAN broadcast domain. Someone moving to a new physical location but remaining in the
same department could move without having workstations reconfigured. Conversely, a user would
not have to change his or her physical location when changing departments--The network manager
would simply change the user’s VLAN membership.

Fig 4-7 Gigabit Switch Bone

23

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

4 Expanding your Network

Higher Performance and Reduced Latency

As the network expands, more and more routers are required to divide the network into broadcast
domains. As the number of routers increase, latency begins to degrade network performance. It is
particularly troublesome for newer applications that feature delay-sensitive multimedia and
interactivity. Switches that employ VLANs can accomplish the same division of the network into
broadcast domains, but can do so at latencies much lower than those of routers. In addition,
performance, measured in packets per second, is usually much higher for switches than for
traditional routers.

Ease of Administration

Routers require much more complex configuration than switches. Reducing the number of routers in
the network saves time spent on network management.

Saving Costs

Router ports are more expensive than switch ports. Also, by utilizing cheaper switch ports,
switching and VLANs allow networks to be segmented at a lower cost than would be the case if
routers alone were used for segmentation.

Security

The ability of VLANs to create firewalls can also satisfy more stringent security requirements and
thus replace much of the functionality of routers in this area. This is primarily true when VLANs are
implemented in conjunction with private port switching. The only broadcast traffic on a single-user
segment would be from that user’s VLAN (that is, traffic intended for that user). Conversely, it
would be impossible to “listen” to broadcast or unicast traffic not intended for that user (even by
putting the workstation’s network adapter in promiscuous mode), because such traffic does not
physically traverse that segment.

Reduction of Routing for Broadcast Containment

One of the primary benefits of VLANs is that LAN switches supporting VLANs can be used to
effectively control broadcast traffic, reducing the need for routing. Broadcast traffic from servers
and end-stations in a particular VLAN is replicated only on those switch ports connected to
end-stations belonging to that VLAN. Broadcast traffic is blocked from ports with no end-stations
belonging to that VLAN, in effect creating the same type of broadcast firewall that a router provides.
Only packets that are destined for addresses outside the VLAN need to proceed to a router for
forwarding. The benefits for utilizing VLANs to reduce routing are numerous:

Infrastructural VLANs

An infrastructural approach to VLANs is based on the functional groups (that is, the departments,
workgroups, sections, etc.) that make up the organization. Each functional group, such as
accounting, sales, and engineering, is assigned to its own uniquely defined VLAN. The majority of
network traffic is assumed to be within these functional groups, and thus within each VLAN. In this
model, VLAN overlap occurs at network resources that must be shared by multiple workgroups.
These resources are normally servers, but could also include printers, routers providing WAN
access, workstations functioning as gateways, and so forth. The amount of VLAN overlap in the

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

24

4 Expanding your Network

infrastructural model is minimal, involving only servers rather than user workstations making
VLAN administration relatively straightforward.

Initially, VLANs should be seen as a solution to at least one of two problems: namely the
containment of broadcast traffic to minimize dependence on routers; and reduction in the cost of
network moves and changes.

However, most large enterprise networks are now experiencing one or both of these problems,
which VLAN implementation can be an effective and cost-saving solution.

25

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

5 LED Indicators

LED Indicators

Before connecting any network device to Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch, you should take a
few minutes to look over this chapter and get familiar with the front panel LED indicators of your
Switch. The front-panel LED indicators of Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch comprise three
sets of LEDs: System Status LEDs, Diagnostic LEDs, and Gigabit Port LEDs. Each set of LEDs
gives specific information concerning the system status, station port status or the Gigabit port status:

Comprehensive LEDs

System LED

Power LED enables users to monitor the system power Status.

Diagnostic LEDs

The Diagnostic LEDs consist of the Bcst/DIAG and OvUn Flow LEDS. Together, they display the
operating status of the switch and the traffic monitor

Station Port LEDs

Gigabit Port LEDs show the port status of the Gigabit Ports on the optional modules installed.
Link/Act, 10/100 and 1000/FDX LEDs indicate the connection status of the Gigabit port.

For the layout of LED indicators, please refer to Fig. 5-1 below.

Power LED

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Diagnostic LEDs

The specific function of each LED will be described in full details in the following
sections:

Station Port LEDs

Fig. 5-1 Front-panel LED indicators

26

Power LED

Power LED will give a solid green light when you turn on the Switch, and will be off when the
Switch being turned off. You can simply check the Power LED to see if the Switch is being
activated. Before turning on the Switch, please verify that the power cord has been properly
connected to the Switch and the power outlet on the wall.

Diagnostic LEDs

The Diagnostic LEDs help you to troubleshoot the network problem.

BCST/DIAG LED

The BCST/DIAG has two functions:

 Power-On Diagnostic Test:

When the switch is powered on, the system will perform a power-on diagnostic test. Under
normal condition, the BCST/DIAG will flash once and remain off. If the LED remained lit after
several seconds, then the switch might fail the power-on test.

 Broadcast Storm Control

When broadcast traffic exceeds 5% of total traffic. The BCST/DIAG LED will keep on
flashing to indicate that the switch is filtering out the broadcast packets. The light will be off
when the broadcast traffic is below 5% again.

5 LED Indicators

Gigabit Port LEDs (for Port #1 ~ 4)

10M/100M/1000M Link/Act LED

Link/Act LED giving a solid green light indicates that a data link has been established between the
corresponding port and the device. If the connection is faulty, it will be off. While the port is
transmitting or receiving data, you will see a blinking green light.

10M Link/ACT: A 10Mbps connection has been made
100M Link/ACT: A 100Mbps connection has been made
1000M Link/ACT: A 1000Mbps connection has been made

FDX/COL LED

FDX LED shows the transmission mode of the connection. When in full-duplex transmission mode,
FDX LED gives forth a solid yellow light. When in half-duplex mode, it will be off. When it is
flashing, it means a network collision has occurred.

27

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

5 LED Indicators

LED Summary Table

A summary of LED status is listed in Table 5-1 below:

LED indicator Color Status Meaning

System LEDs

Power LED

Diagnostic LEDs

Bcst/DIAG

OvUn Flow

Gigabit Statoin Port
LEDs

10M Link/Act

100M Link/Act

1000M Link/Act

FDX/COL

● Green

ON
OFF

● Yellow

● Yellow

ON

Flashing

OFF

Flashing

● Green ON

Blinking
OFF

● Green ON

Blinking
OFF

● Green ON

Blinking
OFF

● Yellow ON

OFF
Blinking

Table 5-1 Station Port LEDs

Power ON
Power OFF

The System is doing Power-On
test, the light should remain off
after a few seconds. If stay on, the
system has failed the power-on test
The Broadcast Traffic has
exceeded 5%, the switch is
filtering out broadcast packet.
The system is working normally

The Unicast Buffer has overflowed

A 10Mbps Connection is made
Transmitting/Receiving
No connection is made

A 100Mbps Connection is made
Transmitting/Receiving
No connection is made

A 1000Mbps Connection is made
Transmitting/Receiving
No connection is made

Full Duplex
Half Duplex
Collision

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

28

Configuring Smart Management

Functions

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch offers you a very convenient and secure way to configure
your Switch for VLAN, Priority and Port-Mirroring function through a RS-232 cable that connects
its console port and the host PC. Using Windows HyperTerminal (on Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP)
or utilities such as Telix or Procomm (on DOS environment), you can easily configure the Switch
for VLAN, Priority and Port-Mirroring function. But before you can actually configure the smart
management functions by your host PC, you should establish a proper RS-232 cable connection
between the console port of your switch and the COM port of your host PC.

6 Configuring Smart Management Functions

Making RS-232 Cable Connection to the Host PC

The way to make a RS-232 cable connection is simple. Just prepare a proper RS-232 cable and, with
it, connect the console port of your Ether-GSH4T and the COM port (either COM1or COM2) of
your host PC.

Fig. 6-1 RS-232 Cable

Console Port (DB-9 female connector)

Fig. 6-2 Console Port

29

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

6 Configuring Smart Management Functions

Fig. 6-3 RS-232 Cable

Note:
After you have established a RS-232 cable connection between Ether-GSH4T and your host PC,
if your Ether-GSH4T or the host PC is not powered on, you should power them up before you can
configure smart console functions.

Using Windows HyperTerminal for Smart Configuration of
VLAN, Priority and Port-Mirroring

After you have properly established a RS-232 cable connection between the console port of
Ether-GSH4T and the host PC. You can now begin configuring station ports for the smart console
functions. Generally, you can use Windows HyperTerminal (on Windows 95/98/2000) or utilities
such as Telix or Procomm (on DOS environment) to access the Switch and perform smart
configuration. In the following section, we will offer you a configuration example using Windows
HyperTerminal on Windows 95/98/2000 platform.

Run Windows HyperTerminal utility

Step 1:

After the RS-232 connection is properly made, you should then run Windows HyperTerminal by
accessing Start menu/Accessory/Communication/HyperTerminal.

Step 2:

The HyperTerminal window appears with a dialog box to prompt you to enter a name and choose an
icon for the connection.

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

30

6 Configuring Smart Management Functions

Step 3:

Ether any name you would like to have for this connection (in this example, we use Ether-GSH4T
as name for the connection) and choose an icon. Click OK.

Step 4:

The Connect to dialog box appear. Since the HyperTerminal connection is made through console
port instead of a phoneline, you need only to configure the Connect using: drop-down combo box
(that means the settings of the rest of the combo box or list boxes can simply be ignored).

Choose the COM port that your RS-232 is connected to (in this case, it is COM2).

After you select the COM port, click OK.

31

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

6 Configuring Smart Management Functions

Step 5:

The COM port properties dialog box (in this case, COM1 Properties dialog box) appears.

Configure the various port settings such as followings:

Bits per second: 9600
Data bits: 8
Parity: None
Stop bits: 1
Flow Control: None

Click OK.

Step 6:

Press “Control-S” when the blank screen appears

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

32

6 Configuring Smart Management Functions

Step 7:

After the host PC has successfully connected to Ether-GSH4T, you will see the Switch Setup Main
Menu appears.

Hot Keys

There are numerous hotkey sequences listed near the bottom of each menu.
These hotkeys can help you quickly access the various configuration functions
of your switch.

Functions:

• Ctrl-S Start to run this configuration program

• Ctrl-D Set to default configurations

• Ctrl-Q Exit the configuration program

• TAB Move cursor to the next item

• BACKSPACE Move cursor to the prior item

• ENTER Toggle selected item to next configuration

• 1: Port Status

• 2: Port Configuration

• 3: Mirror Configuration

• 4: VLAN Configuration

• 5: Misc Configuration

Port Status

Users can view the status of the ports through the “port status” menu. It can show the linking status
and the speed/duplex mode that the port is currently running.

Step 1:

Press “1” to view the port status. The following screen will appear

33

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

6 Configuring Smart Management Functions

Speed/Dpx: This indicate the speed and duplex mode the port is currently running:
10F… 10M, full duplex mode
10H… 10M, half duplex mode
100F… 100M, full duplex mode
100H… 100M, half duplex mode
1000F… 1000M, full duplex mode
1000H…1000M, half duplex mode

Link/Status:

This indicate the link status of the port:
OFF … The port is not connect
On … The port is connected

Port Configurations

Note: Unless you have specific need to set your port setting at a fixed transmission speed and
mode, we suggest you to set all ports to Auto, which is also the default mode for per-port setting.

Step 1:
Press “2” to select “Port Config” on the Main Menu and the following submenu appears:

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

34

6 Configuring Smart Management Functions

The Port Config menu is where you can configure the per port setting of every port. Specifically,
you can configure the speed mode as well as half/full duplex mode, flow control, and priority for
each station port. Note that the default per-port setting is Auto (Auto-negotiation enabled) for every
station port. If you have no particular specification, we suggest you to use the default Auto setting to

take care of your per-port setting automatically. If you do want to specify certain transmission mode
for a specific station port, just go to step 2 for further setting.

Step 2:

Use <Tab> and <Backspace> to navigate to choose which settings to change, press <enter> to
change the value of the setting.

• Speed/Dpx:
Used to configure physical layer’s speed and duplex modes. The Speed/Dpx can be set as following:
Auto… Enable the auto-negotiation function
10F… Forced to 10M, full duplex mode
10H… Forced to 10M, half duplex mode
100F… Forced to 100M, full duplex mode
100H… Forced to 100M, half duplex mode
1000F… Forced to 1000M, full duplex mode
1000H… Forced to 1000M, half duplex mode

• Flow Control:
Used to disable or enable the flow control operation for full duplex mode on the transmit side of the
corresponding port.

• Priority:
Used to set the priority classes on the corresponding port. The Priority can be set as following:
Disable… use the pin configuration as the priority
Class 0… priority is class 0(lowest)
Class 1… priority is class 1
Class 2… priority is class 2
Class 3… priority is class 3(highest)

Step 3:

Press <Control-Q>. When asked whether to “Save Changes” , press <Y> to save.

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Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

6 Configuring Smart Management Functions

Port Mirror Configurations

Port Mirror function allow users to choose a port that can receive the traffic of another port or of all
ports. This function is important for users to diagnose network problem. The “monitor port” is the
port to set to be viewed by the snooping port. The “snooping port” is the port to view the traffic of
the monitored port. The Ether-GSH4T go even one step further to let you choose whether to monitor
incoming traffic, outgoing traffic, or both.

Step 1:

Press <3> to select “Mirror Config” and the following screen should appear.

Step 2:

Press <ENTER> to enable the Port Mirror Function.

• Port Mirror:
Used to disable or enable the mirror function.

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

36

• Monitored Port:
Used to select one port that its traffic can be forwarded to the monitoring port. Only one port can be
monitored at a time.

• Snooping Port:
Used to select one port that will receive the traffic on the monitored port.

• Monitored Pkts:
Used to set which packets the snooping port will mirror. The Monitored Pkts can be set as following:

 Incoming… mirror all the monitored port’s incoming traffic
 Outgoing… mirror all the monitored port’s outgoing traffic
 Incoming & Outgoing… mirror all the monitored port’s incoming and outgoing traffic

Step 3:

Press <Tab> and <Backspace> keys to navigate, then press <Enter> key to change settings.

Step4
To save changes, press <Control-Q>. When asked whether to “Save Changes” , press <Y> to save.
After exiting the program, press <Control-S> to enter the smart consol again.

VLAN Configurations

VLAN divide the switch into different VLAN groups. Each VLAN group is completely separate from
each other. That means no data access is possible between VLAN groups except through the device
on the sharing port (Internet connection, server, or another switch). VLAN can be used to provide
security and decrease broadcast traffic.

Step 1:

Press <4> to select “VLAN Config” on the Switch Setup Main Menu and the following submenu
appears:

6 Configuring Smart Management Functions

The VLAN Group Setup menu is where you can configure the VLAN groups. Ether-GSH4T
supports up to 4 port-based VLANs. Since a single port can belong to more than two different
VLANs, it is very easy to set up overlapping VLANs with maximum flexibility.

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Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

6 Configuring Smart Management Functions

Create a VLAN Group

Step 1:

Press <ENTER> key to change enable a specific VLAN Group. In this case, we enable the VLAN
Group 0.

Step 2:

Add a member port to the VLAN group by press <ENTER> below the port number you want to add.
A “v” sign will occur to indicate the added port. Press <ENTER> again to remove a member port.
In the screen below, port 2 and 3 has been added to VLAN group 0.

Add/Remove a port to a VLAN Group

Step 1:

Press <Tab> and <Backspace> keys to navigate, then press <Enter> key to change settings.

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

38

6 Configuring Smart Management Functions

Step 2:

Press enter at the “[----]” box below the corresponding port number to add or remove a port. A ‘v’
mark indicate the port has been added, a ‘-‘ mark indicate the port has been removed.

You can repeat the steps above to add/remove any port to/from any VLAN Group. Any port can
belong to any of the 4 VLAN Groups and can belong to more than two VLAN groups at the same
time. Therefore, you can set up separate VLANs as well as overlapping VLANs……

Separate VLAN groups

To set up Separate VLAN Groups with no overlapping between any two VLAN groups, you should
have your VLAN configurations looking similar to this …..

Overlapping VLANs

To set up overlapping VLAN Groups with overlapping between VLAN groups, you should have
your VLAN configurations looking similar to the following ….. In this case, Port 1 is the
overlapping port

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Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

6 Configuring Smart Management Functions

Miscellaneous Configurations

Users can set the auto-aging time and priority level through this configuration menu.

Step 1:

Press <5> to enter the “Misc Config” menu. And the following screen should appear:

Aging Time:

Aging Time is used to change the time it takes for the switch to refresh its memory in the MAC
Address table. The MAC address table is used to look up the location of a particular station.
Auto-aging mechanism is employed to let the switch updates its MAC Address table and minimize
the size of the table. The inactive entries will be removed from the table at the preset time. The
Aging Time can be set as followed:

 Disable… disable the aging mechanism for the stored MAC addresses. All entries in the MAC

address table will be kept permanently until the next power reset.

 300sec… set aging time to 300 seconds
 600sec… set aging time to 600 seconds
 900sec… set aging time to 900 seconds
 1200sec… set aging time to 1200 seconds

IP Priority Mapping:

The IP Priority Mapping Ratio can be set in this menu. For Type of Service(TOS) 1 to 7, each value
can be changed to the desired value.

Reset the Device to Default Setting

The switch is delivered with a factory default setting, which you can always revert to when you want
a “clean” setting for your switch.

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

40

6 Configuring Smart Management Functions

Step 1:

Press <Control-D> at the Main Switch Setup menu and the switch’s setting will restore to factory’s
default.

WARNING: All previous setting will be lost when use this function. If you accidentally press the
<Control-D> key, but do not wish to change the setting. Please do not save settings when exit.

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Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

7 VLAN Configuration Basics

VLAN Configuration Basics

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch supports up to 4 groups of port-based VLAN. On the VLAN
Group Setup submenu, you can very easily configure VLAN group membership for any port.

The following sections will introduce to you some basic configuration examples for the port-based
VLAN.

Scenario: Setting up 3 Separate VLANs sharing 1 Server

In this scenario, 3 Mixed Gigabit switches are connected to the Ether-GSH4T backbone switch.
The 3 Mixed Gigabit Switches belongs to different department and they want to be completely
separate from each other. However, they want to share one common server for data exchange.
Below is the port configuration for this network environment.

Port 1: Mixed Gigabit Switch 1
Port 2: Mixed Gigabit Switch 2
Port 3: Mixed Gigabit Switch 3
Port 4: Server

Procedures:

On your VLAN Group Setup submenu, set up your VLANs according to the following VLAN group
configuration.

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Fig 7-1 VLAN Example

42

7 VLAN Configuration Basics

Now you have set up 3 separate VLANs with one overlapping port
are separate from each other. But they all have access to the server on port 4. For steps on how
to operate the smart console to setup VLANs, please refer to the VLAN section in the previous
chapter.

. VLAN0, VLAN1, and VLAN3

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Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Appendix A Production Specifications

Appendix A Product Specifications

• Standard Compliance

 IEEE 802.3 10BASE-T Ethernet
 IEEE 802.3u 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet
 IEEE 802.3ab 1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet over twisted-pair
 IEEE 802.1q VLAN standard
 IEEE 802.1p Class of Service
 ANSI/IEEE Std 802.3 NWay auto-negotiation

• Topology Star

• Port Configuration

 4 × 10/100/100 BASE-T RJ-45 MDI/MDIX Ports
 1 × RS232 console port

• Data Rate

 10BASE-T Ethernet

10 Megabits/sec (half-duplex)
20 Megabits/sec (full-duplex)

 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet

100 Megabits/sec (half-duplex)
200 Megabits/sec (full-duplex)

 1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet

2000 Megabits/sec (full-duplex only)

• Switch management Console port

• Port-based VLAN Configurable via console port

• Priority (CoS) Types (via smart console port setting)

 VLAN based
 TCP/IP TOS
 Per Port

• Priority Level 4-level: High/Low

• Transmission method Store and Forward

• Full Duplex Auto-negotiation

• Active Flow Control

 IEEE 802.3x compliant flow control for full duplex
 Back Pressure for half duplex

• Filtering Address Table 8 K per device

• RAM Buffer 2Mbits shared data memory buffering

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

44

Appendix A Product Specifications

• MAC Address Learning Automatic update

• Cabling Type

 10BASE-T: 4-pair 100 ohm Category 3,4,5 UTP (100 m) cable
 100BASE-TX: 4-pair 100 ohm Category 5 UTP/STP (100 m) cable
 1000BASE-T: 4-pair 100 ohm Category 5 UTP/STP (100 m) cable

• LED layout

 System LEDs

Power LED
OvUn_flow LED
Bcst/DIAD LED

 Station port LEDs for port 1 ~ 4

10M Link/Act LEDs
100M Link/Act LEDs
1000M Link/Act LEDs
FDX/Col LEDs

• Dimensions 330 × 182 × 44 m/m.

• Net Weight 1.6 kg

• Power Input Internal universal power supply,

100~240 VAC, 50~60 Hz, 1.0A

• Power Output 26 Watts max, @ 100 ~ 240 VAC

• Operating Temperature 32 ~ 122 °F / 0 ~ 50 °C

• Storage Temperature - 40 ~ 149°F / -40 ~ 65 °C

• Humidity < 95% (non-condensing)

• Safety / EMI Certificates UL, TUV, VDE, FCC Class A, CE

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Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Appendix B Troubleshooting

Appendix B Troubleshooting

This appendix contains specific information to help you identify and solve problems.
If your switch does not function properly, please make sure it is set up according to
the instructions on the manual.
If you suspect your switch is not connected correctly to your network, check the
following points before you contact your local dealer for support.

• Make sure the Power is ON (Check the Power LED).

• Make sure the cable is connected properly on both ends.

• Make sure that the maximum cable length between switch and end node

does not exceed 100 meters (for 10/100/1000BASE-TX connection).

• Make sure that the maximum switch-to-hub/switch cable distance does not
exceed 100 meters (for 10/100/1000BASE-TX connection).

• Verify that the cabling type used is correct.

• Check the corresponding 10M/100M/1000M Link/ACT. If one of them do

not light up, that means a faulty connection. Check the status of the cable
attachment. If the problem persists, try a different cable.

• Try another port on the Switch.

• Turn off power supply to the Switch. After a while, turn it on again to see if

it resumes to its normal function.

• If you find out where the problem is but cannot solve it by yourself, or you
simply cannot locate what is at fault, please contact your local dealer for
technical support.

Ether-GSH4T Gigabit Ethernet Switch

46