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Home > Archive > CCNA > September 2000 > Some basic questions: please help me!!
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Some basic questions: please help me!!
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| I want to get a few things straight. Please don't be harsh on me, as I have tried to find the answers everywhere!!
1) On a basic 10 Mbps Ethernet networking card, you often have two options for connection: twisted pair, and the other dooby wacker which branches out into two sections. This latter uses coax, right? This would have to be running Ethernet 802.5, or 10Base5 Ethernet, correct?
2) What on Earth does a token ring interface look like?
3) I found a site which shows what some of the different hardware looks like: www.tancom.com (no, I don't work there), but it would be great if someone could point me to other sites which do the same.
4) Another guy got ticked off for asking about the difference between switches and bridges, but I have to confess, after reading up on them they don't seem much different. I'm correct in saying that each is hardware, but the switch processes frames using hardware, whereas the bridge uses software processing? (This is what my books suggest). Yet, this answer doesn't gel with me...I think they both use software processing. The only vague difference was that switches allow for more collision domains than bridges. Is it true that switches support full-duplex, whereas bridges don't?
5) I have been to computer swap meets where you can purchase hubs for as little as $60 AuD ($30 US). Why on earth are Cisco hubs so expensive? (In the hundreds?)
Any help on clarification would be great. Sorry if these questions are pretty dumb.
Deets
[This message has been edited by Deets512 (edited 09-26-2000).] | |
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| Hello Deets,
On many 10Mbit Ethernet NICs, you will have one RJ-45 Twisted Pair connector (10Base-T), one BNC connector for Thin Ethernet coaxial cable (10Base2) and a AUI universial interface. You mentioned 10Base5 but that is the old Thick Ethernet standard and 802.5 is Token Ring.
When it comes to 16Mbits Token Ring network cards, a 9-pin D-SUB female interface is most commonly used.
There is no difference between a switch and a bridge. A switch is a multi-port bridge which is very fast due to the integration of the bridging software into one integrated circuit (ASIC).
Cisco hubs often offer the ability for a network administrator to monitor the hub and all its interfaces via SNMP. Also some hubs have port security, eavesdrop prevention, advanced collision handling and much more. I guess the high build quality (and the Cisco label) also contributes to a higher price.
I hope this was helpful. | |
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| Token ring nic's can also come in RJ45. I've only seen one place that had DB9 TR jacks, a local government organization.
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| Deets,
It sounds to me that you are having a struggle with the basics. An excellent book to read about networking is Microsoft's Network Essentials.
Telephoneman
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MCP+I, MCSE | |
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| Thanks for your help, guys. That makes more sense, now. Couple more things: do switches and bridges both support full-duplex? I gather the operations that have been hard-wired in switches are performed using software in bridges?
[This message has been edited by Deets512 (edited 09-26-2000).] | |
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| Another thing. Let's assume that I have a NIC with both a UTP and coax interface. For the coax this is the order of connectors:
NIC-AUI-MAU-BNC-Coax cable
Correct? Is the MAU the outer interface on the network card?
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