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Autonegotiation Valid Configuration

Posted by Peter Kurdziel on January 17, 2010

There is a lot of confusion about auto negotiation. Here is a chart that will help bring things into perspective.

Autonegotiation Valid Configuration



Configuration NIC (Speed/Duplex)

Configuration Switch (Speed/Duplex)

Resulting NIC Speed/Duplex

Resulting Catalyst Speed/Duplex

Comments

AUTO

AUTO

1000 Mbps, Full-duplex

1000 Mbps, Full-duplex

Assuming maximum capability of Catalyst switch, and NIC is 1000
Mbps, full-duplex.

1000 Mbps, Full-duplex

AUTO

1000 Mbps, Full-duplex

1000 Mbps, Full-duplex

Link is established, but the switch does not see any
autonegotiation information from NIC. Since Catalyst switches support only
full-duplex operation with 1000 Mbps, they default to full-duplex, and this
happens only when operating at 1000 Mbps.

AUTO

1000 Mbps, Full-duplex

1000 Mbps, Full-duplex

1000 Mbps, Full-duplex

Assuming maximum capability of NIC is 1000 Mbps,
full-duplex.

1000 Mbps, Full-duplex

1000 Mbps, Full-duplex

1000 Mbps, Full-duplex

1000 Mbps, Full-duplex

Correct Manual Configuration

100 Mbps, Full-duplex

1000 Mbps, Full-duplex

No Link

No Link

Neither side establishes link, due to speed
mismatch

100 Mbps, Full-duplex

AUTO

100 Mbps, Full-duplex

100 Mbps, Half-duplex

Duplex Mismatch
1

AUTO

100 Mbps, Full-duplex

100 Mbps, Half-duplex

100 Mbps, Full-duplex

Duplex Mismatch
1

100 Mbps, Full-duplex

100 Mbps, Full-duplex

100 Mbps, Full-duplex

100 Mbps, Full-duplex

Correct Manual
Configuration2

100 Mbps, Half-duplex

AUTO

100 Mbps, Half-duplex

100 Mbps, Half-duplex

Link is established, but switch does not see any
autonegotiation information from NIC and defaults to half-duplex when operating
at 10/100 Mbps.

10 Mbps, Half-duplex

AUTO

10 Mbps, Half-duplex

10 Mbps, Half-duplex

Link is established, but switch does not see Fast Link Pulse
(FLP) and defaults to 10 Mbps half-duplex.

10 Mbps, Half-duplex

100 Mbps, Half-duplex

No Link

No Link

Neither side establishes link, due to speed
mismatch.

AUTO

100 Mbps, Half-duplex

100 Mbps, Half-duplex

100 Mbps, Half-duplex

Link is established, but NIC does not see any autonegotiation
information and defaults to 100 Mbps, half-duplex.

AUTO

10 Mbps, Half-duplex

10 Mbps, Half-duplex

10 Mbps, Half-duplex

Link is established, but NIC does not see FLP and defaults to
10 Mbps, half-duplex.

One Response to “Autonegotiation Valid Configuration”

  1. Dan said

    Slightly unrelated, 1000baseT requires all 4 pairs. I have seen people do the old-school 2 pair crossover cable and not understand why they only get 100/Full. (http://www.zytrax.com/tech/layer_1/cables/tech_lan.htm#100c)

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