1.2. Interfaces and Ports

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This section is an overview of the NetShield 500 Series product's external connectivity options.

Figure 1.2. NetShield 500 Series Interfaces and Ports

	Note: The meaning of the terms "Front" and "Back"
	The term "Front" will be used in this guide to refer to the side of the 500 Series that has the Ethernet ports and the term "Back" to the side that has the status lights.

The NetShield 500 Series features the following connection ports on the front panel:

An RJ45 RS-232 local console port

This port (marked |O|O|) can used for direct access to the cOS Stream Boot Menu and the cOS Stream Command Line Interface (CLI). Connecting to this port is described in Section 2.4, RJ45 Console Port Connection.
A micro-USB (type micro-B) local console port

This port (also marked |O|O|) provides an alternative means for a local console connection. Like the RJ45 console port, this is used for direct access to the cOS Stream Boot Menu and the cOS Stream Command Line Interface (CLI). Connection to this port is discussed in Section 2.5, Micro-USB Console Port Connection.

If local console connections are made to the RJ45 and micro-USB ports at the same time, the micro-USB port will automatically take precedence.
4 x RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet interface ports

These ports have sequential logical cOS Stream interface names from G1 to G4. They all support 10BaseT, 100BaseTx and 1000BaseT.

The G1 interface is used for initial management connection over a network. The G4 interface is intended to be used for the initial connection to the public Internet because it has a DHCP client enabled in the default configuration.
2 x 10 Gigabit SFP+ Ethernet interfaces ports

These ports have the logical cOS Stream interface names X1 and X2. They both support 10 Gigabit Enhanced Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP+) modules.

The X1 interface could be used for the initial connection to the public Internet as an alternative to G4 since it also has a DHCP client enabled in the default configuration.

Note that only the SFP+ modules available from Clavister have been tested to function correctly with the 500 Series hardware. Clavister cannot guarantee that others will function correctly.
2 x RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet interface ports with PoE

The two right-most ports have logical cOS Stream interface names G5 and G6. They both support 10BaseT, 100BaseTx and 1000BaseT.

These ports are also capable of providing Power over Ethernet (PoE). This is discussed further in Chapter 4, Power over Ethernet Setup.

In the predefined default cOS Stream configuration, the G1 interface of the NetShield 500 Series has an IPv4 DHCP server enabled so it will automatically hand out IP addresses belonging to the default management network to a connecting client. In addition, both the G4 and X1 interfaces have an IPv4 DHCP client enabled so that they can automatically be assigned an IP address if either or both are connected to an ISP (dual connection can provide redundancy).

The default cOS Stream configuration contains a predefined IP rule set that allows clients on the G1 interface to automatically access the Internet via either G4 or X1. If both interfaces provide Internet access, X1 will take precedence because its predefined all-nets route has a lower metric value.

The default cOS Stream configuration is discussed further in Section 3.1, The NetShield 500 Series Default Configuration.

	Note: The two USB Type A ports are not currently used
	The two USB Type A ports on the 500 Series front panel are for future functionality and are not currently used by cOS Stream.

Figure 1.3. NetShield 500 Series Ethernet Interfaces

The full connection capabilities of all the NetShield 500 Series Ethernet interfaces are listed at the end of Appendix A, 500 Series Specifications.

RJ45 Ethernet Interface Status LEDs

The status lights on the NetShield 500 Series RJ45 Ethernet interface sockets indicate the following states for each interface:

Left LED:
1. Solid Green - The interface has power.
2. Flashing Green - The interface is active.
Right LED:
1. Dark - 10 Mbit link or no link.
2. Green - 100 Mbit link.
3. Yellow - 1000 Mbit link.

System Status Indicator LEDs

The two status LEDs on the 500 Series indicate the following:

Power - This shows power is supplied to the unit.
Status - This shows that cOS Stream is running.

Note that there is a power status light above both power inlets on the 500 series which indicates if power is applied to that inlet.