3Com TR - Manual (Page 12)

1-2 C HAPTER 1: O VERVIEW
■
Port population—High density port population
relieves traffic congestion and supports 4 and 16
Mbps data rates. In addition, the Switch 2000 TR
has four custom-configurable ports designed for
direct workstation or dedicated server connection.
■ Network management—Switch 2000 TR is sup-
ported by the Transcend
® Enterprise Manager
applications for UNIX and Microsoft Windows
95
® . Both network management applications pro-
vide Simple Network Management Protocol
Remote Monitoring Management Information
Base (SNMP RMON MIB) data using an intuitive
graphical interface to report historical and perfor-
mance statistics.
System Features
■ Congestion Control—The Congestion Control
feature optimizes available buffer space in the
Switch 2000 TR by using the buffering ability in all
Token Ring end stations. This is especially useful
when many ports are transmitting to a common
port such as a server connection. Having conges-
tion control eliminates the chances of dropped
packets in high-traffic client-server environments.
■ Slide-in Option Slot—Optional downlink mod-
ules are available for the Switch 2000 TR. These
modules provide downlinks to high-speed back-
bones such as FDDI, ATM, and Fast Ethernet.
■
The FDDI module supplies a 100 Mbps point of
aggregation for multiple Token Ring switched
segments and supports either Single Attached
Stations (SAS) or Dual Attached Stations (DAS).
■
The ATM module supplies 155 Mbps UNI inter-
face, and retains all virtual LAN emulation con-
figuration data, provides ATM signaling, and
offers standard LAN emulation.
■
The TR-in-FE module combines Token Ring and
Ethernet for the purpose of utilizing Fast Ether-
net as a backbone and method of server attach-
ment for Token Ring networks. Through a
process known as tunneling or encapsula-
tion, TR-in-FE uses Fast Ethernet to transport
natively formatted Token Ring frames.
■
High-speed Cascade Interface—The high-speed
cascade interface enables multiple Switch 2000
TRs to connect to form a single, large switched
domain while reducing the cost typically incurred
with FDDI or ATM functionality. This connection
allows as many as six Switch 2000 TRs to be
stacked.
■ VLAN Support—The Switch 2000 TR supports vir-
tual LAN (VLAN) operation by allowing any switch
port to become a member of any one of 15 unique
VLANs (workgroups). By establishing VLANs, LAN
administration tasks such as adds, moves, and
changes become easier while bulk downloads and
configurations remain across workgroups. VLANs
also enhance security and increase network effi-
ciency by controlling traffic flow and containing
broadcasts. VLANs are preserved over the High
Speed Cascade Interface. In addition, indus-
try-standard LAN emulation over ATM provides a
method for creating enterprise-wide virtual LANs
that reflect how networks actually function.