A dual-purpose uplink is a combination of one 10/100/1000-TX copper port and one Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP)-based Gigabit Ethernet port.

Only one of these two ports can be used at a time. This added uplink flexibility allows cost-effective use of high-density, fiber-uplink-based stacks. Dual-purpose uplinks also offer a full-duplex, Gigabit-speed trunk for a Cisco Catalyst 2960 Series switch stack. This is an improvement over the half-duplex Cisco GigaStack® configuration.

The Cisco Catalyst 2960G-24TC and 2960-48TC have two dual-purpose uplinks whereas the Cisco Catalyst 2960G-24TC and 2960G-48TC have four dual-purpose uplinks.

For more information, refer to Cisco Catalyst 2960 Series Switches Q&A.

For more information, refer to Product Overview section of  Catalyst 2960 Switch Hardware Installation Guide, January 2007