I have a study guide that is showing something - and it doesn't make sense.

If you are adding a link cost between two Fa ports, it is 19. This is simple.

If you are adding a link cost between two Gi ports, it is 4. Again, simple.


The study guide is telling me that a link between an Fa and a Gi port would cost 4. Yeah... but a Gi port connected to a Fa port can't run any faster than 100mbs, so shouldn't it cost the Fa metric of 19 instead of the Gi metric of 4?

I'm a little rusty, but IIRC if one port is 100mbps and the other is 1gbps, the link speed is auto negotiated to make the link function, so both sides act as 100mbps, and the cost will be 19. I think it is just an error.

Agree, link cost would be 19 since speed would be need to be negotiated or hard coded to 100 mbps to function.

I'm glad to hear that I'm not on the wrong track here. It means I might actually be processing some of this info into a usable bit of knowledge.

I am OK with grammatical snafus in technical materials. The profession does not attract many English majors. When I catch technical errors though... I have to wonder about what I'm NOT catching. I am reading it as a Learner after all, not an Editor.


... and now I'm flashing back to the Citrix Metaframe guide I bought ever so many years ago. I compiled 2-3 pages of technical errors in it. It was so bad I actually returned it with the list of problems. Ick.