| >> If you connect 2 Alpha 2100 with DEFEA-DA (dual channel) FDDI
>> cards, should both lights be green ?
If you connect the two DEFEA-DA adapters point-to-point using *two*
fiber crossover cables, you need to connect the A port of one adapter
to the B port of the other and vice-versa. If you do this properly,
all four LED's (two on each NIC) should be solid green.
>> ie Does NT support 'full duplex' ? or does it only
>> use one channel and have the second channel as a backup ?
It's not Windows NT that supports full-duplex, but rather, it is a
function of the NIC. In the case of the DEFEA products, yes, we
support FDDI full-duplex under Windows NT. When you install the
driver, or use the Configure option to display the dialog box you'll
see an option for enabling full-duplex. Once you set this and reboot
the system, the adapter will try to go into full-duplex and will
succeed if it's connected point-to-point with another similarly enabled
FDDI NIC, or the Digital GIGAswitch/FDDI.
FDDI full-duplex works on both SAS and DAS adapters, the "trick" is to
make sure that you have two MACs and that both end nodes support
full-duplex. It's not correct to say that one channel is used and
another is backup.
- Larry
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