Token Ring RJ-45

RJ-45 (8P8C) pinout for IBM Token Ring (IEEE 802.5) over unshielded twisted pair, an alternative to the DB-9 connector.

Token Ring RJ-45 – RJ45 jack 8 pin RJ45 (8P8C) female connector at the interface card.

Token Ring RJ-45 – RJ45 jack 8 pin RJ45 (8P8C) male connector at the cable.

Token Ring is a local-area network technology developed by IBM and standardised as IEEE 802.5. Stations pass a small frame called a token around a logical ring to take turns transmitting, which avoids the collisions of early Ethernet; physically the network is wired as a star through a Multistation Access Unit (MAU/MSAU). It ran at 4 and 16 Mbit/s (with a later 100 Mbit/s version) and was largely displaced by Ethernet during the late 1990s. The original IBM cabling used the hermaphroditic IBM Data Connector with shielded twisted pair; the RJ-45 (8P8C) pinout below is the alternative used to run Token Ring over unshielded twisted pair, in place of the DB-9 connector.

PinNameDirectionDescription
1NCNot Connected
2NCNot Connected
3Tx+OUTTransmit Data
4Rx-INReceive Data
5Rx+INReceive Data
6Tx-OUTTransmit Data
7NCNot Connected
8NCNot Connected

Notes

  • The active pairs are pins 3 & 6 (transmit) and pins 4 & 5 (receive); pins 1, 2, 7 and 8 are unused.

References

Category:Networking Connectors