Add Insight Support for the GS110EMX

Its not "just" a Netgear decision. The chip designer and vendor does also follow the IEEE standards.

In absence of your scenario insights, simply made me guessing, concluding it could be a wiring problem.

One needs to understand the history how the IEEE 802.3 standards developed over time. Back in about 2006, 802.3an 10GBASE-T (10 Gbit/s Ethernet over copper twisted pair cable) was ratified. This came with the requirement for better cabling systems. About 10 years later, around 2016, 802.3bz was ratified by the IEEE bodies, introducing 802.3bz, aka. 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T (2.5 Gigabit and 5 Gigabit Ethernet over Cat-5/Cat-6 twisted pair cable). The reason why the later one was defined is in the requirement for operating faster wireless access points over existing cabling, including the ability to supply power according to 802.3af, followed by 802.3at. Later on, with the faster and more power hungry access points, 802.3bt was added. Said this: It's up to the connection end-point - that's why link speed negotiation on copper Ethernet is mandatory. And believe me: None of my many customers were happy if we had to tell them it's time to update the pysical cabling.

The problems are coming from connecting devices negotiating faster link speeds than what the physical cabling system allows. Yes, this case isn't covered by the standardisation, because it should not exist. This is nothing patriachial from my side - this is the way these tech features are standardized.

Rate limit does never change anything on the physical link rate, it just defines the amount of frames the switch does forward over a certain time. This compares more to the  household water pressure regulator reducing the water pressure from the public water main to a pressure that is usable by the customer and compatible with normal household plumbing and fixtures - and to avoid the full city water supply presure. Like one does have to manually reduce the water flow to avoid bursting the garden hoses - because in our area, we get the full city water pressure on the garden outlets. Something not possible on copper networks.

ErwinL this thread can be closed resolved now. Many Thanks

Any chance you can cut the snark out a bit? it’s not that I don’t want to understand but that how you described it was not entirely clear.

as I now understand it form your last, rather patronising, reply and doing some follow up reading on the ieee standards, the standard mandates auto-negotiation and discourages manually setting speeds but does not actually forbid it to achieve ieee certified status. There are some vendors who do implement manual override functionality (my Mikrotik router for instance) but it’s discretionary.

Clearly Netgear has chosen not to on this device which is unfortunate in my particular scenario. Rate limiting would have been an option, but unlike my MS510 that can limit to any percentage of the port speed, the GS110 can only rate limit below 1GB (before you say how that’s also a bad approach, Netgear support suggested it to me as a possible workaround)

as for the “fix your cables” comment, that is a sweeping assumption that it is always physically and/or economically possible. In my particular situation it isn’t without significant construction work.

This isn't a suprise - just a strictly standards compliance not permitting what you want to achieve. Appears you still don't want to understand what mandatory auto-negotiation means for link speeds faster than 1 Gb/s.

Still lost a little bit for what purpose and even more the reason why you are so desperate to fix the link rates on these MultiGig ports. A 10 GbE port will work, a device supporting max 5 Gb/s or 2.5 Gb/s will perfectly negotiate, just like a pure GbE device.

If the cable quality does not allow the negotiated link rate - fix your cabling.

schumaku the auto-negotiation is just fine - nothing to dislike or not understand there. It’s the lack of ability to set the two 10g ports manually to any of the supported speeds. 1g, 2.5g, 5g etc that was a bit of a surprise.

as ErwinL suggested - I will suggest as a feature request

Hello@ijhammoUK

Is your problem resolved? In this case could you give us a feedback on the situation and accept the post as a solution to make it more visible to other users?

Thanks in advance! 🙂

Have a lovely day,
Erwin
Netgear Team

ijhammoUK "Re "The IEEE standards are making speed negotiation for copper links for 1 GbE and up mandatory" Does that mean they only auto-negotiate or have to be able to?"

Mandatory == a "must" feature according to the standards.

ijhammoUK "The 10Gbe ports on the EMX auto-negotiate just fine - but you cant set the speed manually which is a pain if the device you are connecting is one that only auto-negotiates."

Any specific issue or just difficult to understand or dislike an industry-standard link auto-negotiation which takes place?

Hello@ijhammoUK

Yes it seems the EMX 10G speed can only do auto-negotiation and does not support hard coding of port speed unfortunately. But if people like you really find this feature as an enhancement, you can always request this from the link below.

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Idea-Exchange-For-Business/idb-p/idea-exchange-for-business

Have a lovely day,
Erwin
Netgear Team

I guess there is a lack of understanding of managed vs unmanaged on my part.  It has a GUI and has [sic] management capabilities, but isn't managed.  ok...

Re "The IEEE standards are making speed negotiation for copper links for 1 GbE and up mandatory" Does that mean they only auto-negotiate or have to be able to? The 10Gbe ports on the EMX auto-negotiate just fine - but you cant set the speed manually which is a pain if the device you are connecting is one that only auto-negotiates.

Hello@ijhammoUK

Did schumaku was able to answer your question? In this case could you give us feedback on the situation and accept schumaku's post as a solution to make it more visible to other users?

Thanks in advance! 🙂

Have a lovely day,
Erwin
Netgear Team