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MULTILINK ML3000 ETHERNET COMMUNICATIONS SWITCH – INSTRUCTION MANUAL 4–1

Multilink ML3000

Ethernet Communications Switch

Chapter 4: Operation

GE Energy

Oper ation

4.1 Functionality

4.1.1 Switching Functionality

The MultiLink ML3000 provides switched connectivity at Ethernet wire-speed. The ML3000

supports10/100 Mbps for copper media and 10 or 100 Mb separate traffic domains for

fiber ports to maximize bandwidth utilization and network performance. All ports can

communicate to other ports in a ML3000, but local traffic on a port will not consume any of

the bandwidth on any other port.

The ML3000 is a plug-and-play device. There is no software configuration necessary for

basic operation, installation, or maintenance. Optional half/full-duplex mode and 10 or

100 Mbps selection for the switched ports must be configured through software as per the

requirement. The internal functions of both are described below.

4.1.2 Filtering and Forwarding

Each time a packet arrives on one of the switched ports, the decision is taken to either filter

or to forward the packet. Packets whose source and destination addresses are on the

same port segment will be filtered, constraining them to that one port and relieving the

rest of the network from having to process them. A packet whose destination address is on

another port segment will be forwarded to the appropriate port, and will not be sent to the

other ports where it is not needed. Traffic needed for maintaining the un-interrupted

operation of the network (such as occasional multi-cast packets) are forwarded to all ports.

The ML3000 operates in the store-and-forward switching mode, which eliminates bad

packets and enables peak performance when there is heavy traffic on the network.

4.1.3 Address Learning

All ML3000 units have address table capacities of 4K node addresses suitable for use in

larger networks. They are self-learning, so as nodes are added, removed or moved from

one segment to another, the ML3000 automatically keeps up with node locations.

GE Multilink ML3000 User Manual

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