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What is 10Gactually ? I have a Cisco switch ( http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10898/prod_models_comparison.html)

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And it has 2xSFP interface and 10 x 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T.

Does this not mean, i got 10G layer 2 switch? (i am confused cant understand the differences of 10G vs general switches).

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Well my goal is 10G or 1G switch and simple DHCP server on it. (no routing, NAT, firewall etc, for heavy traffic RAW switching). –  YumYumYum Nov 12 '11 at 9:38

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up vote 3 down vote accepted

10G means 10Gbps (gigabits per second). That would be like 10000Base-T. The RJ-45 ports on your switch only do 1000Base-T, or 1G (1Gbps). Sometimes the sfp ports, with the right mini-gbic module, can go faster. The link you supplied, though, indicates that these ports are also limited to 1Gbps.

It's also worth nothing here that the "G"s in this question and answer are not the same kind of "G"s that you see in 3G or 4G cell phone service. Here, 1G is nothing to sneeze at.

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It really excellent information. One thing i must need to know related to this switch. Does a 10G or 1G switch like this one, have its own DHCP server? Like without using any router just DHCP relay?? –  YumYumYum Nov 11 '11 at 18:32
@YumYum - probably not. dhcp doesn't really belong on the switch. I might be surprised here, though. You should go read the documentation at the link you posted - that will tell you for sure. –  Joel Coehoorn Nov 11 '11 at 18:40
Some switches do DHCP, if you need it, but that's usually an option. As far as I know, most desktops and laptops only do 1000Base-T, 10G is usually for servers only. –  mauvedeity Nov 11 '11 at 18:42
@Joel Coehoorn: Page 2 it says it has a ip and password (also in specs it says DHCP relay it does for layer 3 or something) e.g: cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/lan/csbms/sf30x_sg30x/… –  YumYumYum Nov 11 '11 at 18:42
dhcp relay is used for transferring vlan information to an external dhcp server. I don't see anything indicating this switch has dhcp. Most switches in this category will not. –  Joel Coehoorn Nov 11 '11 at 18:44

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