[802.3ae] Fault handling
This is just a general observation about fault handling (e.g
LF, RF, AN fault fields, etc.)
In some situations management intelligence is very limited
or absent. In particular, makers of layer-1 media converters
have struggled for years to get these devices to behave
in a logical fashion on faulted links and to provide
some help with fault isolation given only a few LEDs for
status indication.
I hope that the experience of the IMC's, Allied Telesyn's,
etc. has been incorporated in the specification of the fault
handling features in 10GbE. Not everyone will be running
carrier-grade management systems, but everyone will see a
link fail sooner or later!
Cheers,
Chuck Harrison
Far Field Associates, LLC
+1 360 863 8340 (voice) GMT-0700