3. Front Panel

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Since the 728TS is designed for tabletop or rack mounting - rack-mount ears are included - everything you need is on the front panel, except for the power cord receptacle. Figure 2 illustrates the layout of the front panel.

Figure 2: Front Panel
(click image to enlarge)

Each of the 24 10/100 ports has a link/activity LED, but the lights for the bottom row of ports are mixed in with the LEDs for the top row ports. There are four 10/100/1000 ports, two of which can be switched from copper to fiber connection by plugging in optional Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) GBIC modules that handle 1000BASE-SX, LX or ZX.

By default, two additional 10/100/1000 copper Ethernet ports come set as ports for stacking up to eight 728TS units. However, they can be changed over to function the same way as the other two gigabit Ethernet ports. Note that all ports default to supporting auto MDI / MDI-X detection - as well as auto speed and mode negotiation - so you can connect anything you want without worrying about scrounging up crossover cables. The gigabit ports also all have separate link and activity lights built into the port connectors.

I was pleased to see separate reset and reset-to-defaults buttons, each clearly labeled and on opposite ends of the front panel. This arrangement eliminates the need to remember a special reset-to-defaults button combination. It also eliminates mistakes caused by accidentally "remembering" that combination when you didn't mean to!