Gigabit Media Converters

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bharatp80

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Oct 25, 2006
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Hello Everyone,

I am looking gigabit media converter.

I have one cisco 3825 series router which has gigabit interface .i want a media converter whcih can convert gigabit interface to ethernet interface where i have cisco pix 506E firewall which has ethernet interface.

can you recommand best one i can use here in my applcation

Thanks,
Bharat
 
Is your gigabit interface on the 3825 coper or fiber? If it's copper, then just plug it in. If you have fast ethernet port, just use that because that is the fastest your pix can run.
 
Thanks for your reply.

Actually i have asked to ATT engineer about this and he suggested me to buy a converter switch which has one port to support gigabit and one port which support ethernet.because router has gigabit interface and firewall has ethernet interface.
currently my network is connected in half duplex mode because of this.

so i need a switch to overcome this problem.

Thanks,
Bharat
 
The ports on both the router and the PIX can be configured statically for speed and duplex. You shouldn't require a switch in between. If you are having problems when you set both sides to auto, set both sides to 100/Full. I have set up a PIX directly connected to a router without any problems.

Also, you shouldn't have to configure your entire network to half duplex. Any of your gigabit interfaces can run at a lower speed. On an ethernet network without hubs, you can run full duplex with out problems.
 
Thanks for yr suggestionn.

The ports on both the router and the PIX can be configured statically for speed and duplex. You shouldn't require a switch in between. If you are having problems when you set both sides to auto, set both sides to 100/Full. I have set up a PIX directly connected to a router without any problems.

Also, you shouldn't have to configure your entire network to half duplex. Any of your gigabit interfaces can run at a lower speed. On an ethernet network without hubs, you can run full duplex with out problems.

i am not able to set 100 mbps full on cisco 3825 router.i do not know why but when i set 100mb full on pix 506E and called ATT to set the same on router but after setting this on router that interface never come up.so they told me because of router has gigabit interface and firewall has ethernet interface so hardware mismatch is creating problem for this. so buy one switch through which connect router and firewall.

does this make sense to you.

Thats why i am looking for go between switch and make sure weather ATT people are saying is correct or not.

Thanks,
bharat
 
Thanks for yr suggestionn.

i am not able to set 100 mbps full on cisco 3825 router.i do not know why but when i set 100mb full on pix 506E and called ATT to set the same on router but after setting this on router that interface never come up.so they told me because of router has gigabit interface and firewall has ethernet interface so hardware mismatch is creating problem for this. so buy one switch through which connect router and firewall.

does this make sense to you.

Thats why i am looking for go between switch and make sure weather ATT people are saying is correct or not.

Thanks,
bharat
 
If it is copper with 8 wires and a RJ45 plug, it is ethernet, even if it does gigabit speed. The port on your router is gagabit ethernet. If you set the speed statically on one device, you must do it for both. If you set it to dynamic one device, then you must set it on both. If you have a support contract from Cisco on either device, open a ticket and get some help from the people who made the devices.
 
#1 why did you make another post about the same subject?

#2 It doesent make any sense. If both sides are set to 100 full it should work. They are both Cisco, so a call to Cisco is probably a smart thing.

Have you tried auto on both sides?
 
Hi moetop,

if you have read my question for this second post it is not similar to the one.
My question was to provide me a reference to such a switch through which i can connect gigabit ethernet port to ethernet port.

do you have any idea about such switches which i can connect in my existing network.(Between router and firewall)

thanks,
Bharat
 
First off, Gigabit Ethernet and Fast Ethernet are both Ethernet. A media converter is used to do exaclty what it says, convert the media (i.e., Copper to Fiber or vice-versa).

A 3825 should have no problem negotiating it's speed and/or duplex. You should also be able to force the speed/duplex. Do you have access to the CLI on the 3825? It should look similar to this...

GigabitEthernet0/0
duplex full
speed 100

What type of cable are you using between the router and firewall?
 
hi phunball,

Thanks for yr suggestion.



Actually we were running bandwidth.com's 6 mbps T1.we upgraded T1 to 10.5Mbps from ATT.so we r usinng existing running set up except ATT has provided cisco 3825 series router.That's the only thing we changed.

WE tried to set up speed/duplex on router 3825 but its gigabit interface never come up if we set it to same as firewall setting.100mbps full duplex.

so we changed it to auo and checked for what speed it is negotiating and found it is negotiating with 100 mbps HALF DUPLEX.

so ATT engineer told me it is because router has gigabit interface and firewall has ethernet interface.that's why it is hardware mismatch and you have to have onw switch between firewall and cisco router which has one port to support gigabit and other port to support ethernet interfce.

so i am asking you if you have any idea about such switches.please let me know.

Thanks,
Bharat.
 
bharatp80 said:
WE tried to set up speed/duplex on router 3825 but its gigabit interface never come up if we set it to same as firewall setting.100mbps full duplex.

so we changed it to auo and checked for what speed it is negotiating and found it is negotiating with 100 mbps HALF DUPLEX.

Bharat.
Click to expand...

When you saw 100 half duplex was it on your PIX and was the other side set to auto? Were there any alignment, runts, Giants, etc errors on the interface?

If they have the 3825 set to 100 Full and your PIX is set to Auto it will negotiate at Half duplex per the link I gave you in the other post.

If you really want to try something you could get an inexpensive managed switch like a dell 2708 8 port Gigabit switch That would allow you to set either end to whatever configuration you wanted. If you want a 2 port device that does what you want I dont think they make such a thing.

Just to note I (and I think other people posting to this thread) think are approaching this incorrectly. You should have a ticket open with Cisco as these 2 devices should not have these issues when connecting them together. Gigabit Ethernet set to auto should negotiate just fine with a 10/100 ethernet interface set to auto. OR for that matter if either side is set the same as the other it should work fine. If it's not then something is not right. What ATT said doesn't make sense.
 
Hi moetop,

Thanks for your suggestion.

Actually mine pix was set for 100 mbps full duplex mode.and ATT cisco router was set for auto negotiation so i checked with them and told to change it to 100 mb full duplex mode.
But after changing it on cisco router to 100 mb full duplex interface on router was not turning on.
so he again changed it to auto negotiation and interface was turned on.after that he checked for speed and found that it was connected at speed of 100mb HALF DUPLEX.

so this was the issue that some how router interface is not turning on if it is set for full duplex mode

and after that ATT engineer told me to have go between switch between router and firewall and after that iw will negotiate to the 100 mb full duplex mode.

does this make you much clear now?

Thanks,
Bharat
 
bharatp80 said:
Hi moetop,

Thanks for your suggestion.

Actually mine pix was set for 100 mbps full duplex mode.and ATT cisco router was set for auto negotiation so i checked with them and told to change it to 100 mb full duplex mode.
But after changing it on cisco router to 100 mb full duplex interface on router was not turning on.
so he again changed it to auto negotiation and interface was turned on.after that he checked for speed and found that it was connected at speed of 100mb HALF DUPLEX.

so this was the issue that some how router interface is not turning on if it is set for full duplex mode

and after that ATT engineer told me to have go between switch between router and firewall and after that iw will negotiate to the 100 mb full duplex mode.

does this make you much clear now?

Thanks,
Bharat
Click to expand...
I understand what the ATT engineer told you, but it isn't correct. Well, it will work, but you aren't fixing the root problem, you are just working around it. What is your internet speed? Do you have more than a 100mb connection? If not, then the full or half duplex at 100mb won't make a difference.

One more thing you could try is having both sides auto negotiate.
 
bharatp80 said:
Hi moetop,

Thanks for your suggestion.

Actually mine pix was set for 100 mbps full duplex mode.and ATT cisco router was set for auto negotiation so i checked with them and told to change it to 100 mb full duplex mode.
But after changing it on cisco router to 100 mb full duplex interface on router was not turning on.
so he again changed it to auto negotiation and interface was turned on.after that he checked for speed and found that it was connected at speed of 100mb HALF DUPLEX.

so this was the issue that some how router interface is not turning on if it is set for full duplex mode

and after that ATT engineer told me to have go between switch between router and firewall and after that iw will negotiate to the 100 mb full duplex mode.

does this make you much clear now?

Thanks,
Bharat
Click to expand...


It's getting a bit clearer. The way you just explained it though sounds like your PIX was set to 100 Full when the ATT router was set to AUTO?

"pix was set for 100 mbps full duplex mode"
"he again changed it to auto negotiation" I'm assuming IT is the ATT router
"it was connected at speed of 100mb HALF DUPLEX" Im still asuming on the ATT router.

If the PIX is set to 100 Full and the ATT router is set to auto the ATT router will show up as 100 half. BOTH sides need to be the same.

Was this the case? Where the ATT router is AUTO and the PIX is 100 FULL ?
 
Thanks for yr reply.

I am posting the actual post sent me by ATT engineer.

here is.............

Hello Bharat.

You are currently utilizing our bundled solution which hands off from a Gigabit Ethernet interface. We are handing off to your network (your firewall) which has an Ethernet (half duplex 10mb by definition) interface. We are seeing collisions, crc errors, and lost carrier due to the difference of the speeds at this handoff. This is a problem that needs to be resolved.

Two possible solutions would be to
a) change the Ethernet card on the firewall to a fast Ethernet card or

b) Have some sort of go-between switch to attach to the ATT router that has a Ethernet handoff to go to the customer's network.


does this make sense to you.

Thansk,
Bharat
 
MorfiusX said:
I understand what the ATT engineer told you, but it isn't correct. Well, it will work, but you aren't fixing the root problem, you are just working around it. What is your internet speed? Do you have more than a 100mb connection? If not, then the full or half duplex at 100mb won't make a difference.

One more thing you could try is having both sides auto negotiate.
Click to expand...

Depending on what you are doing across the link duplex MAY not make a diffrence. I have seen certin things downright fail on a duplex mismatch link.
 
bharatp80 said:
Thanks for yr reply.

I am posting the actual post sent me by ATT engineer.

here is.............

Hello Bharat.

You are currently utilizing our bundled solution which hands off from a Gigabit Ethernet interface. We are handing off to your network (your firewall) which has an Ethernet (half duplex 10mb by definition) interface. We are seeing collisions, crc errors, and lost carrier due to the difference of the speeds at this handoff. This is a problem that needs to be resolved.

Two possible solutions would be to
a) change the Ethernet card on the firewall to a fast Ethernet card or

b) Have some sort of go-between switch to attach to the ATT router that has a Ethernet handoff to go to the customer's network.


does this make sense to you.

Thansk,
Bharat
Click to expand...

According to the specifications for the PIX 506e it has FAST Ethernet interfaces.

"Outside: Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet port, auto-negotiate (half/full duplex), RJ-45
Inside: Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet port, auto-negotiate (half/full duplex), RJ-45"

As well as if you had network connectivity and his side said 100 half duplex when set to auto the interface HAS to be capable of 100Mb while a duplex mismatch typicaly will work with errors a speed mismatch wont work at all.

Curently what is your PIX set to? Auto , 100/Full , 100/Half ?
 
moetop said:
Depending on what you are doing across the link duplex MAY not make a diffrence. I have seen certin things downright fail on a duplex mismatch link.
Click to expand...
True. I was more referring to performance, sans collisions.
 
bharatp80 said:
Thanks moetop,

firewall is currently set up with 100mb Half duplex.

thanks,
bharat
Click to expand...

Have you had ATT try and set their end to 100/HALF ? if not you may want to do that. There may be collisions, but since you are hardly going to be utilizing the full 100Mb I wouldent expect them to be bad. It's a MUCH better situation than a duplex mismatch.

You can also use that DELL switch I linked to. It has the ability to change each interface independently of each other. so you could leave one interface at Gigabit/Auto (ATT side) and the other at 100 full or half (whatever you set the PIX to)
 
Thanks moetop for your reply.

The dell switch you referred is managed switch?

and i have to run this switch in managed mode?

do you have any link that can guide me about how to congigure switch to run it in managed mode.

I would be thankful to you.

Thanks,
Bharat.
 
bharatp80 said:
Thanks moetop for your reply.

The dell switch you referred is managed switch?

and i have to run this switch in managed mode?

do you have any link that can guide me about how to congigure switch to run it in managed mode.

I would be thankful to you.

Thanks,
Bharat.
Click to expand...

Yes it is a managed switch

Yes you need to run it in managed mode if you want to change the speed/duplex on the ports. It is a web based interface. I have the 24 port version of this switch and it works well. ( note most managed switches I have worked with do not have the ability to turn of the management, but this Dell actualy does)

Here is a link to the PDF manual. Page 21 "Managed Mode Button" and page 47 "Defining Interface Configuration". are the 2 sections you are probably looking for. Also note the line in the "Managed mode button" section "Factory default configuration (192.168.2.1) is set as the switch IP address."

You have about 3 more questions and I'm going to start charging $120 Hour. (JOKE) . :)

Just to note this MAY not fix your issue. Your PIX should be working fine with the ATT router, and I would still suggest contacting Cisco concerning this.
 
Thank you very much boh of you for youe kind suggestion and constant involvement in my isssue.I appreciate you help.


Will again contact you if i have any issue in configuring this mangaged switch.

I would take a try with this and will update you on this issue.

Thanks,
Bharat
 
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