- Cabletron User's Guide SmartSwitch Interface Modules 6H258-17, 6H259-17

Introduction 1-1
1
Introduction
This chapter introduces the 6H258-17 and 6H259-17 SmartSwitch 6000 interface modules and
provides information about how to obtain additional support from Cabletron Systems.
1.1 OVERVIEW
The SmartSwitch, shown in Figure 1-1, is a Fast Ethernet interface module for the Cabletron
Systems 6C105 chassis. The SmartSwitch has 16 MT-RJ fiber optic switched ports and 1 slot for
an optional High Speed Interface Module (HSIM) or Very High Speed Interface Module
(VHSIM). The 6H258-17 uses multimode fiber optic cable for the network connections, while the
6H259-17 uses single mode fiber optic cable. The physical connectors look the same.
The SmartSwitches can be used to connect individual high-bandwidth user devices, such as
workstations, or to provide a central switching point for multiple 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet
segments. The optional HSIMs provide one or more high speed uplinks to other networking
technologies such as Gigabit Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI),
Wide Area Network (WAN) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Some HSIMs also provide
additional Fast Ethernet ports in varying media types. The optional VHSIMs provide very high
speed uplinks to networking technologies such as ATM and Gigabit Ethernet.
The SmartSwitch ports can be configured to control frame traffic several ways, including
prioritizing traffic flow according to protocol type. The SmartSwitches can also be configured to
establish Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) and control the flow of frames associated with
each VLAN according to priority and Ether type. Detailed information about VLANs is provided
in the Local Management User’s Guide.
Important Notice
Depending on the firmware version used in the SmartSwitches, some features described in this
document may not be supported. Refer to the Release Notes shipped with the device to determine
which features are supported.