GarrettCom MAGNUM 6KQE - Manual (Page 30)

Magnum 6KQE Managed Edge Switch Installation and User Guide 02/09
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NOTE for Power Substations: In support of the IEEE 1613 Class 2 standard, GCI
advises that, for substation applications, the serial (DB-9) console ports are
intended for temporary connectivity to other equipment such as PCs. Since the
console port connection is temporary, it is excluded from IEEE 1613 packet-
loss testing per the 1613 standard-defined test procedure.
4.0 OPERATION
This chapter describes the functions and operation of the Magnum 6KQE Switch.
4.1 Switching Functionality
A Magnum 6KQE provides switched connectivity at Ethernet wire-speed
among all of its ports. The Magnum 6KQE supports10/100Mbs for copper media and
100Mb separate traffic domains for fiber ports to maximize bandwidth utilization and
network performance. All ports can communicate to all other ports in a Magnum 6KQE,
but local traffic on a port will not consume any of the bandwidth on any other port.
The Magnum 6KQE units are plug-and-play devices. There is no software
configuring necessary to be done for basic operation at installation or for maintenance.
The only hardware configuration settings are user options for an UP-LINK Switch
(resides inside the unit) on the 6KQE4-RJ-45. There is an optional Half / Full duplex
mode and 10Mbps or 100Mbps selection for the switched ports which must be
configured through MNS software per unit as per the requirement. The internal functions
of both are described below.
Filtering and Forwarding
Each time a packet arrives on one of the switched ports, the decision is taken to
either filter or to forward the packet. Packets whose source and destination addresses are
on the same port segment will be filtered, constraining them to that one port and relieving
the rest of the network from having to process them. A packet whose destination address
is on another port segment will be forwarded to the appropriate port, and will not be sent
to the other ports where it is not needed. Traffic needed for maintaining the un-
interrupted operation of the network (such as occasional multi-cast packets) is forwarded
to all ports.
The Magnum 6KQE Switches operate in the store-and-forward switching
mode, which eliminates bad packets and enables peak performance to be achieved when
there is heavy traffic on the network.
Address Learning
All Magnum 6KQE units have address table capacities of 4K node addresses
suitable for use in larger networks. They are self-learning, so as nodes are added,
removed or moved from one segment to another, the 6KQE Switch automatically keeps
up with node locations.
An address-aging algorithm causes least-used addresses to fall out in favor for
frequently-used addresses. To reset the address buffer, cycle power down-and-up.