Allied Telesis AT-MCF2000, Installation Manual

Page: 37 / 190

AT-MCF2000 Media Converter Series Installation Guide
Section I: Features 37
Channel Operating Modes
The media converter channels support these operating modes:
❒
Link Test mode
❒
MissingLink mode
❒
Smart MissingLink mode
The operating modes of the channels are set with the Mode button on the
front panel of the module explained in “Mode Button” on page 51, or with
the optional management module. These operating modes, which, during
normal network operations, do not interfere with the flow of traffic through
the ports of the channels, can be used to alert you when a port loses its
link to a network device or to troubleshoot a network problem.
Link Test Mode
Contrary to its name, the Link Test operating mode is not a diagnostic
utility. Rather, it simply displays on the Link LEDs the states of the links of
the two ports in a channel. When a channel is operating in this mode, a
Link LED will be on when a port has established a link to its network
device, and it will be off when a port does not have a link. (Refer to Table 8
on page 44.)
This mode, as with all of the operating modes, does not interfere with the
flow of traffic between the two ports of a channel during normal network
operations. It is typically used when the network devices connected to a
channel cannot take advantage of the features of the MissingLink mode,
or when you want to use the Link LEDs to troubleshoot a link problem.
This operating mode is also useful after you have installed a media
converter module and want to verify whether the ports of the channels
have successfully established links with the local and remote network
devices. This is explained in “AT-MCF2012LC, AT-MCF2012LC/1 and
AT-MCF2032SP Media Converter Modules” on page 141 in Chapter 21,
“Verifying the Installation”.
MissingLink
Mode
The MissingLink mode enables the twisted pair port and the fiber optic port
of a channel to pass the “Link” status of their connections to each other.
This ensures that both ports of a channel and, consequently, the network
devices connected to the ports, are aware of any changes to the state of
the link on the companion port.
When a channel in the MissingLink mode detects the loss of a link on one
of the ports, it disables the transmitter on the companion port to notify the
network device connected to it of the loss of the link on the other channel
port. Without the MissingLink mode, a network device connected to a port
on the media converter would not be aware of a loss of a link on a
companion port in the channel, because its link to the media converter
would be unaffected.