I've discovered that if you have NICs that are relatively new (less than three years) and you have updated drivers then autonegotiation works very well. In the past it's been a rancid, evil mechanism that almost guaranteed link failure at some point. The stability of this mechanism has improved greatly over the last few years and for various reasons it may actually be better than hard-setting the speed and duplex.
If you have recent NICs with the latest drivers and you have relatively new switches then give it a shot. Make sure you set BOTH sides to auto. Never configure auto on one side only. If the mechanism is to work as intended both sides must be configured for autonegotiation. People who know far more about NIC technology than I have stated that hard-setting the speed and duplex on newer switches and NICs is the absolute worst thing to do if you desire link stability. This advice does not apply if you have older NICs and switches. Do a Google Group search on this topic and you'll find some quite heated but informative debates. HTH, John >>> "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" 12/10/02 11:10:01 AM >>> >From my experience in networking I made my mind that manual configuration of speed and mode is the better choice. Cisco recommends fixed configuration too. For my surprise, 802.3 specification states: "It is strongly recommended that Auto-Negotiation be used ..." "Manual configuration is not recommended" That sounds weird for me. Any thoughts? Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=58909&t=58904 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
