Understanding Ethernet media types

About media types

You can configure the speed and the duplex setting, or specify autonegotiation, for an Ethernet interface. The media types available for your storage system interfaces are described in the following table.

Note
For 10Base-T and 100Base-T interfaces, the mediatype option of the interface and its link partner (the interface on the other end of the connection) must be the same; that is, both interfaces must be configured either for speed and duplex or for autonegotiation. Otherwise, a duplex mismatch occurs, which can lead to poor performance.

Media-type value	Description
tp	10Base-T, half-duplex
tp-fd	10Base-T, full-duplex
100tx	100Base-T, half-duplex
100tx-fd	100Base-T, full-duplex
auto	Autonegotiate speed, duplex, and flow control. See How media type auto works.

For information about setting media-type values, see Configuring network interfaces.

How media type auto works

The behavior of media type auto is determined by the type of network adapter installed on your storage system. The following table lists the parameters that are autonegotiated and the possible values for those parameters for each type of network adapter.

Note
You can use the ifstat command to determine the speed, duplex, and flow control settings that are negotiated between the interface of your storage system and the link partner. For more information, see Displaying network interface information.

Network adapter	Parameters that are autonegotiated (with possible values)
10Base-T/100Base-T	Speed and duplex (half or full)
100Base-T/1000Base-T	Speed. If speed is 100 Mbps, duplex (half or full) and flow control are negotiated. If speed is 1000 Mbps, flow control is negotiated.
10Base-T/100Base-T/ 1000Base-T	Speed. If speed is 10 Mbps, duplex (half or full) is negotiated. If speed is 100 Mbps, duplex and flow control are negotiated. If speed is 1000 Mbps, flow control is negotiated.
Gigabit Ethernet	Flow control.