From a layman's perspective what does it mean getting packets in and out of CPU?
A switches primary function is to efficiently switch frames as fast as possible. In order to do that, they use FIBs to sustain a high, low latency throughput rate. This is generally achieved by using CAM that operates in an ASIC (i.e. hardware).
Does that mean all packets that ingress/egress a switch typically don't go through the CPU?
Most of the time, this is accurate. But not always.
There are packets that don’t just pass through a switch, but are destined for the switch. This requires processing. SSH, SVI’s, STP, etc. all require some sort of CPU processing by the switch. Whenever a switch is tasked with scrutinizing a packet further, it’s bound to take up resources that could be used elsewhere.
what are some of the cases where you need to send the packet to a CPU?
This is highly dependent on your platform. But if it’s destined for your switch, then it’s going to require CPU processing. Routing protocols (EIGRP/OSPF), spanning-tree protocols(RSTP/MSTP), management protocols(SNMP), remote access protocols(SSH) and discovery protocols(CDP/LLDP) are a few that initially come to mind.
An uplink port is a port on which Transmit and Receive are reversed.
They are used to connect together 2 switches with a standard straight-trough cable.
(otherwise it would require a cross cable where the transmit and receive are crossed in the cable rather than on the switch port)
Some switches came with 2 physical ports that were actually the same logical port , the first one being wired normally and the second wired "crossed". So you were able to use only one of the physical port a a time, depending if you connect a PC (or a router) or a switch.
Nowadays this generally doesn't matter anymore since most interfaces are "auto-mdix", meaning that the interface detect the type of device connected and cross transmit and receive internally if needed.
(and if the switch itself is not auto-mdix but the device you connect on it is , it also works).
Note: this apply mostly to 10Base-T / 100Base-TX ports, since Auto MDI-X is nearly ubiquitous on gigabit Ethernet, and doesn't apply to 10GB Ethernet and above where there's no more dedicated transmit / receive wires.
Best Answer
The 1000M is clearly labelling indicator lights showing that the ports in question are running at gigabit speeds.
Have you tested all the ports?
The line you highlighted part of says
"24 port 10/100 + 2 SFP/1000T combo"
"24 port 10/100" indicates that your switch has 24 ports that are capable of 10/100 speeds.
"2 SFP/1000T combo" indicates that your switch has two gigabit ports which can be used either directly for 1000BASE-T copper or used with a SFP module (for gigabit fiber).
Since only ports 25 and 26 have "1000M" lights it's pretty clear that ports 1-24 are the 10/100 ports and ports 25-26 are the gigabit ports. If you connect two devices to ports 25 and 26 you should get gigabit speeds between them. If you don't you might want to check the configuration to make sure noone has locked the ports to a lower speed.
It's very common in switches to have a couple of ports that are faster than the rest. This makes sense because in general you want your backbones to be faster than your access ports.