IT Solutions Blog | Trigon Technology

IT Support | Network Admins: Manually Setting vs. Auto Negotiation

 

Alright it’s time to start the age old debate between the two schools of network admins.  The debate has been raging for some time now.  Should you manually set both the speed and duplex settings on a switch port, or allow auto negotiation to make the settings for you.  I certainly do favor one side of this argument, and I don’t want to pretend that I am none biased on this topic.  I do want to take a quick look at both sides of this argument.

Manually setting the settings do have some benefits, for starters you know that all switch ports are set a specific way and have total control of the entire environment.  Another benefit, there is no chance a port could negotiate to something other than what you set.  One of the drawbacks here is that the entire environment needs to be managed by the administrator, every network interface from the workstations, to the server’s NICs need to be configured exactly the same way.  A second drawback is that all the NIC cards and devices are set to auto negotiation rather than manual, this causes an administrator to touch every device.  There is also the chance for typos missing this command in any location anywhere at all can cause issues.  This solution is used often in edge network gear, so just be aware of the settings each device are using and make 100% sure that they match.  One other item of note is when either side is manually configured the auto crossover settings are disabled, so in situations where a switch port auto detected and adjusted the pin out will not work in this instance.

 

Auto negotiation has some benefits also, for one all devices come this way out of the box, it requires no additional settings.  As earlier mentioned Auto crossover settings on switch ports do work when ports are not manually configured.  The chances of errors here are much lower, given that everything is automatically configured.  Another point is when changing ports or devices from one speed to another and upgrades to gigabit go much smoother.  There is a slight chance of the ports negotiating to the wrong setting.   This is also the recommended by the book setting per cisco, in the newer text books.  As for the Gigabit standard, it was designed from the ground up to work with auto negotiation.

 

In my experience manually setting the switch ports have caused more problems than fixed.  A single miss configuration anywhere can cause issues, and tracking down that incorrect setting can take time, and the management of all the devices adds a lot of overhead to network management.  I am sure that I missed a lot of important arguments on both sides, and I did say my stance was not bias free.  I must also admit there are instances where both have valid uses.  Truly my biggest argument against the manually setting the switch ports, is the amount of time you have to spend managing everything that could be auto managed.

 

Google Hacked!!

No one that has a connection to the Internet is ever completely safe from being hacked.  As the industry-leader for search engines recently found out.  Google was hacked in what appears to be a cyber-attack that may have included employees of the company.  According to the website, the Hydraq trojan made its way into the Google network, which allows unauthorized access to information.

Now the question becomes - are you as protected as you can be?  Some companies do not have any protection from the Internet and are easily exposed to these types of threats.  Those that have protection, such as clients of Trigon Technology Group, LLC, have a number of safe-guards that drastically reduce their vulnerability.  Some of these safe-guards include a properly configured Cisco firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware applications, a network that is not accessible to the Internet without the aid of other devices (such as a firewall), and an intrusion detection system (IDS).

If you would like to find out if you are properly protected, you can review the following information from our webpage.  Trigon's Networking and Infrastructure Solutions will allow Trigon to find any items on your network infrastructure that could use modification to make the internal network run to its peak efficiency.  Trigon's IT Security Solutions will have Trigon review your external information to be sure you are properly protected from threats, such as the Hydraq Trojan, that come from the Internet.

Networking and Infrastructure Optimization for Philadelphia Businesses

It's important for Philadelphia Businesses to optimize their network performance.  Doing so can save your organization both time and money.  Philadelphia based IT Company Trigon Technologycan help you with networking optimization, and ultimately increase efficiency. 

Trigon Technology's Networking and Infrastructure IT Solutions will provide your organization with an examination of the components deployed in your network and how they support your current IT setup.  Trigon will also help you identify and address the main causes of network performance issues.

Here are a few things to think about when optimizing network performance:

• 1) Identifying Bandwidth Hogs - Finding and ridding your network of items that may be slowing down your network will mean less wait - more productivity.
• 2) Examine Utilization - Forget about averages, what about peak periods? Make sure you know how to deal with these peaks.
• 3) Trends - By recognizing trends, you will be able to better know and understand your bandwidth needs.
• 4) Understand Your Security Challenges - Is your current setup prepared to deal with hackers, spyware, malware and many other security issues? It's important to know this.
• 5) Prepare for the Future - Changes in an application's speed and hardware upgrades can also slow down your setup.

If your business needs a networking and infrastructure solution, be sure to check Trigon out!