Two Additional Advanced Features of Switches
Switches really expand our flexibility when we’re designing our networks. The features that we need to cover for the CompTIA Network+ objectives are as follows:
- Power over Ethernet (PoE)
- Port mirroring/spanning (local vs remote)
Power over Ethernet (802.3af, 802.3at)
Power over Ethernet (PoE and PoE+) technology describes a system for transmitting electrical power, along with data, to remote devices over standard twisted-pair cable in an Ethernet network. This technology is useful for powering IP telephones (Voice over IP, or VoIP), wireless LAN access points, network cameras, remote network switches, embedded computers, and other appliances—situations where it would be inconvenient, expensive, and possibly not even feasible to supply power separately. One reason for this is that the main wiring usually must be done by qualified and/or licensed electricians for legal and/or insurance mandates.
The IEEE has created a standard...
