Reducing Network Congestion
Switches have multiple special features that will help reduce network congestion. By default, interconnected switch ports will first try to establish a Full-Duplex link to eliminate collision domains. Remember that there is no need for a collision domain if a Full-Duplex link is being utilized. 1Gbps speeds and higher always require a Full-Duplex link.
The following are some features of switches that help reduce network congestion:
| Fast Port Speeds |
| Switch port speeds are different and should be used for the right purpose. Most access layer switches support 100Mbps and 1Gpbs port speeds. On the other hand, Distribution layer switches support up to 10Gbps and Core switches may go. up to 100Gbps. Switches with higher speeds will reduce network congestion. |
| Fast Internal Switching |
| Switches use a fast internal bus or shared memory to provide high performance. |
| Large Frame Buffers |
| Switches use large memory buffers to temporarily store more received frames before dropping them. This will enable traffic from a faster ingress port to be stored in the buffer and forwarded to a slower egress port without losing any frames. |
| High Port Density |
| A high port density switch (ex. 48 port) will reduce the overall number of switches required. High port density switches help keep traffic local which will also reduce network congestion. |