The forwarding rate is expressed in packets per second (pps). When the forwarding capabilities are greater than the sum of speeds of all ports, we call the backplane non-blocking. The forwarding rate (or throughput rate) is the forwarding capabilities of a backplane (or switch fabric). If you are buying a Layer 2 or Layer 3 switch, there are some key parameters that you should check out, including the forwarding rate, backplane bandwidth, number of VLANs, memory of MAC address, latency, etc. Layer 2 vs Layer 3 Switch: Key Parameters to Consider When Purchasing Supports higher routing such as static routing and dynamic routing This is known as the distribution layer in the network topology.įigure 2: when to use Layer 2 switch, Layer 3 switch and router? If you need the switch to aggregate multiple access switches and do inter-VLAN routing, then a Layer 3 switch is needed. This is usually called access layer in a network topology. A pure Layer 2 domain is where the hosts are connected, so a Layer 2 switch will work fine there. If you have a pure Layer 2 domain, you can simply go for Layer 2 switch. When lingering between Layer 2 and Layer 3 switches, you should think about where it will be used. Layer 3 switches are increased in power and security as demanded. Other than routing packets, layer 3 switches also include functions that require to understand the IP address information of data entering the switch, such as tagging VLAN traffic based on IP address instead of manually configuring a port. There is also layer 2+ (layer 3 Lite) switch that adds only static routing. That means, a Layer 3 switch has both MAC address table and IP routing table, and handles intra-VLAN communication and packets routing between different VLANs. Layer 3 switch, or multilayer switch, can do all the job of a layer 2 switch and additional static routing and dynamic routing as well. A Layer 2 switch works with MAC addresses only and does not care about IP address or any items of higher layers. The layer 2 and Layer 3 differs mainly in the routing function. The OSI model has seven layers: application layer, presentation layer, session layer, transport layer, network layer, data link layer and physical layer, among which layer 2 and layer 3 refer to the data link layer and network layer respectively, and the switches working in these layers are called layer 2 switch and layer 3 switch.įigure 1: Layer 2 & Layer 3 in OSI model. Layers 2 switch and layer 3 switch are adopted in the Open System Interconnect (OSI) model, which is a reference model for describing and explaining network communications. Layer 2 Switch and Layer 3 Switch: What Are They? There comes the question: layer 2 vs layer 3 switch, which is the network switch of choice? But for now, layer 3 switch is thriving in data centers, complicated enterprise networks and commercial applications with the growing diversity of network applications and the converged network implementations. Generally, a Layer 2 switch is one of the basic equipment used to connect all network and client devices.
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