E T H E R N E T N E T W O R K S & S W I T C H E S
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WheatNet-IP
/ Apr 2009
GbE Network Cabling Guidelines
• 1000BASE-T Standard - All four twisted pairs are used.
• Use UTP CAT-5e or CAT-6 cable exclusively.
• Use the correct connectors for the cable type.
• Certify all end to end runs and patch cables.
• 100M (328ft) port to port distance limit.
• Auto-MDI/MDI-X supported on GbE switches.
• CAT-6 crossover wiring pattern differs from CAT-5.
• Switches may be linked with fiber using GBIC modules.
1000BASE-T vs. 1000BASE-TX
Note that these very similarly named standards specify different wiring methods.
The prevailing Gigabit Ethernet 1000BASE-T standard uses all four pairs of wire,
while the outdated 1000BASE-TX standard uses only two pairs. To add to the
confusion some products marketed as 1000BASE-TX may actually be 1000BASE-T
designs.
Wireless Connectivity
Wireless routers of the 802.11ab/g/n variety are currently not up to the task of
reliably distributing multicast audio at the data rates required by the system. A
wireless access point could be added to the network for administration, monitoring,
or remote access purposes.
Configuring the Network
The WheatNet-IP system is very friendly when it comes to network configuration.
By default, BLADEs will configure their IP Address and Multicast parameters
automatically based on the BLADE ID number. This auto-configuration method is
similar to the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) used on many Ethernet
networks to configure PC wired and wireless NIC’s on power up. A provision for user
override of this functionality is provided for customers wishing to manually configure
their network.
Configuring your WheatNet-IP network breaks down into four categories:
• Managed Switch configuration
• BLADE configuration
• Surface configuration
• PC Configuration
Managed Switch Configuration
At first glance, the number of configuration options for a managed switch can be
overwhelming. Luckily, there are only a few parameters that need to be configured on
the managed switch to set it up for WheatNet-IP multicast traffic.
