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I'm looking into buying a switch to expand the one ethernet port on one level. I'm considering "Linksys by Cisco EZXS55W EtherFast 10/100 5-Port Workgroup Switch" from Amazon, but I'm not sure what the 'Etherfast' and the 'Workgroup Switch' parts mean? Will it work like a regular switch, or is it different? Thanks!

Hennes
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studiohack
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1 Answers1

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Etherfast means it's 10/100. Workgroup switch means that it's for LAN use. Essentially, it's a standard 10/100 unmanaged Ethernet switch.

MDMarra
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  • sorry, I'm a complete novice at networking and servers...just a standard switch that would do what I need it to do? (see above) – studiohack Feb 06 '10 at 00:41
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    @studiohack23 The uplink port would be connected to your existing single Ethernet connection, leaving five Ethernet ports to use for whatever devices you want. There will be some set-up to get it to work with your existing network (e.g., setting the default gateway), but this should be minimal. The Linksys switch you suggest is probably as good as any (although other users may have more informed opinions than mine) - but note that it is limited to 100Mbit/s, so Gigabit Ethernet is not possible. – sblair Feb 06 '10 at 00:52
  • @sblair Thanks for the awesome answer! Can you tell me how to figure out if I have a Gigabit Ethernet? – studiohack Feb 06 '10 at 00:55
  • @studiohack23 We would need to know more about the mysterious connection from the other level. Do you know what device that cable connected to? – sblair Feb 06 '10 at 01:15
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    @sblair - This isn't a L3 switch, just a simple L2 switch with no user interface. Just plug it in and go. – MDMarra Feb 06 '10 at 02:17
  • @sblair, @MarkM: The ethernet goes thru the wall and connects directly to a Linksys WRT54G Router. – studiohack Feb 06 '10 at 02:26
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    @studiohack23 - Just plug it in and go. This switch lacks a lot of advanced options, but the upside is that no additional configuration is needed. If you just need more ports, this is fine. – MDMarra Feb 06 '10 at 02:28