Ethernet crossover cable

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An Ethernet crossover cable is a crossover cable for Ethernet used to connect
computing devices together directly. It is most often used to connect two devices of the
same type, e.g. two computers (via their network interface controllers) or two switches
to each other. By contrast, straight through patch cables are used to connect devices
of different types, such as a computer to a network switch.

Intentionally crossed wiring in the crossover cable connects the transmit signals at one
end to the receive signals at the other end.

Many network devices today support auto MDI-X (aka "auto crossover") capability,
wherein a patch cable can be used in place of a crossover cable, or vice versa, and the
receive and transmit signals are reconfigured automatically within the device to yield a
working connection.

Motivation[edit]
 8P8C modular crossover adapter
The 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX Ethernet standards use one wire pair for transmission
in each direction. This requires that the transmit pair of each device be connected to the
receive pair of the device on the other end. The 10BASE-T standard was devised to be
used with existing twisted pair cable installations with straight-through connections.

When a terminal device (with an MDI port) is connected to a switch or hub, this
crossover is done internally in the switch or hub (MDI-X port). A standard straight-
through cable is used for this purpose where each pin of the connector on one end is
connected to the corresponding pin on the other connector.

One terminal may be connected directly to another without the use of a switch or hub,
but in that case, the crossover must be done in the cabling. Since 10BASE-T and
100BASE-TX use pairs 2 and 3, these two pairs must be swapped in the cable. This
wiring scheme constitutes a crossover cable. A crossover cable may also be used to
connect two hubs or two switches on their upstream ports.

Because the only difference between the T568A and T568B pin and pair assignments
are that pairs 2 and 3 are swapped, a crossover cable may be envisioned as a cable
with one modular connector following T568A and the other T568B (see TIA/EIA-568
wiring). Such a cable will work for 10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX.

The polarity of each pair is not swapped, but the pairs crossed as a unit: the two wires
within each pair are not crossed.[1]

Cable requirement for Ethernet link

To
MDI MDI-X Auto MDI-X
From

MDI crossover straight any

MDI-X straight crossove any

 r

Auto MDI-X any any any

Automatic crossover[edit]
Main article: Medium Dependent Interface § Auto MDI-X
Introduced in 1998, this made the distinction between uplink and normal ports and
manual selector switches on older hubs and switches obsolete.[2] If one or both of two
connected devices has the automatic MDI/MDI-X configuration feature, there is no need
for crossover cables.

Although Auto MDI-X was specified as an optional feature in the 1000BASE-T standard,
[3]
in practice it is implemented widely on most interfaces.

Besides the eventually agreed upon Automatic MDI/MDI-X, this feature may also be
referred to by various vendor-specific terms including: Auto uplink and trade, Universal
Cable Recognition and Auto Sensing.

1000BASE-T and faster[edit]

In a departure from both 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T and faster use all
four cable pairs for simultaneous transmission in both directions through the use
of telephone hybrid-like signal handling. For this reason, there are no dedicated transmit
and receive pairs. 1000BASE-T and faster require either a straight or one of the
crossover variants only for the autonegotiation phase. The physical medium attachment
(PMA) sublayer provides identification of each pair and usually continues to work even
over cable where the pairs are unusually swapped or crossed.[4]

Fiber[edit]
For most optical fiber variants of Ethernet, fibers are used in pairs with one fiber for
each direction. The transmitter on one end of the connection needs to be connected to
the receiver on the other and vice versa. For this, fiber patch cables
with duplex connectors are normally configured as crossover as is the on-premises
wiring.[citation needed] Thus, a simple connection with two patch cables at each end and a
section of fixed cable in the middle has three crossovers in total, resulting in a working
connection. Patch cable crossovers can usually be reconfigured very easily by
swapping the connectors within a duplex bracket if required.

Pinouts[edit]
In practice, it does not matter if non-crossover Ethernet cables are wired as T568A or
T568B, just so long as both ends follow the same wiring format. Typical commercially
available pre-wired cables can follow either format depending on the manufacturer.
What this means is that one manufacturer's cables are wired one way and another's the
other way, yet both are correct and will work. In either case, T568A or T568B, a normal
(un-crossed) cable will have both ends wired identically according to the layout in either
the Connection 1 column or the Connection 2 column.

Half crossed[edit]

Crossover cable connecting two MDI

ports
Certain equipment or installations, including those in which phone and/or power are
mixed with data in the same cable, may require that the "non-data" pairs 1 and 4 (pins
4, 5, 7 and 8) remain un-crossed. This is the most common kind of crossover cable.

Two pairs crossed, two pairs uncrossed 10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX crossover[5]

Connection 1: T568A Connection 2: T568B

Pi
Pins on plug face
n

pai pai
signal color signal color
r r

BI_DA BI_DB
1 3 white/green 2 white/orange
+ +
stripe stripe

BI_DA
2 3 BI_DB- 2
- green solid orange solid

3 BI_DB 2 BI_DA 3
 white/orange white/green
+ +
stripe stripe

4 1 1
blue solid blue solid

5 1 white/blue 1 white/blue
stripe stripe

BI_DA
6 BI_DB- 2 3
orange solid - green solid

7 4 white/brown 4 white/brown
stripe stripe

8 4 4
brown solid brown solid

Fully crossed[edit]
All pairs crossed[6]
While this is the only crossover for 1G, it also works for 10M and 100M ethernet

TIA/EIA 568-A TIA/EIA 568-B

Pin
Normal Crossover Normal Crossover

1
white/green stripe white/orange stripe white/orange stripe white/green stripe

2
green solid orange solid orange solid green solid
3
white/orange stripe white/green stripe white/green stripe white/orange stripe

4
blue solid white/brown stripe blue solid white/brown stripe

5
white/blue stripe brown solid white/blue stripe brown solid

6
orange solid green solid green solid orange solid

7
white/brown stripe blue solid white/brown stripe blue solid

8
brown solid white/blue stripe brown solid white/blue stripe