Sams Teach Yourself Network Troubleshooting in 24 Hours, Second Edition

Ethernet Evolution

One of Ethernet’s success secrets is that it is able to change with the times. As an implementer and troubleshooter, what this means to you is that you need to understand where Ethernet came from before you can truly understand and work with today’s Ethernet.

For example, when you purchase Ethernet gear today, you most commonly buy a switch, not an Ethernet hub. But even though the Ethernet on the switch behaves differently than old-school Ethernet, the same old-school rules apply when examining the connection between the switch and the PC. (For instance, you still cannot exceed Ethernet’s cable budget of 100 meters, data payloads still have the same limits, and so forth.) So, before starting out on a discussion of switching, ...