On Wed, 8 Jan 2003, Stephen J. Wilcox wrote:
So thats human error not a problem with using forced settings, eliminate the human error and I think you'll see forced always works, autoneg sometimes works. (For future reference dont employ incompetent people to run your networks folks!)
Problem with autoneg is that you always have to have manageble equipment and you always have to check both ends after changing anything. In an ISP environment that is generally not a problem luckily, apart from the equipment you connect to on the customer side, some customers insist on using cheapo stuff. Autoneg does add good things, especially on GigE. Autoneg on a GigE yields the most desireable effect of "link loss return", ie if you lose fiber link one way the link goes down at both ends.
Have you looked at what autoneg is.. its horrible, a hack to help out the above incompetent engineers who dont know how to force duplex.
Hmm, I might draw the same conclusion regarding automatic gear boxes on cars but I think I should not considering the situation in the US regarding that perticular issue :) Personally I think the idea with autoneg is really a good thing, why shouldnt two units advertise their capabilities and then act accordingly to what they both can do? We do the same on SMTP (EHLO) and so on. -- Mikael Abrahamsson email: swmike@swm.pp.se