From owner-freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Mar 26 14:19:16 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 98C8816A4F4 for ; Fri, 26 Mar 2004 14:19:16 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp.omnis.com (smtp.omnis.com [216.239.128.26]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 736BD43D39 for ; Fri, 26 Mar 2004 14:19:16 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from wes@softweyr.com) Received: from salty.rapid.stbernard.com (unknown [198.147.128.71]) by smtp-relay.omnis.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id CB84B101A46; Fri, 26 Mar 2004 14:19:08 -0800 (PST) From: Wes Peters Organization: Softweyr.com To: Bakul Shah , "Marc G. Fournier" Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 14:19:37 -0800 User-Agent: KMail/1.5.4 References: <200403261908.i2QJ8lHA078562@gate.bitblocks.com> In-Reply-To: <200403261908.i2QJ8lHA078562@gate.bitblocks.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200403261419.37797.wes@softweyr.com> cc: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Looking for switch recommendations ... X-BeenThere: freebsd-net@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Networking and TCP/IP with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 22:19:16 -0000 On Friday 26 March 2004 11:08 am, Bakul Shah wrote: > > What is the difference between Layer2 and Layer3, and what does that > > affect? > > Layer3 == routing (based on IP destination address) > Layer2 == switching (based on enet dest. address) > > Layer3 is probably not important for you. That depends. For a test network, a VLAN-capable Layer3 switch can be quite a nice tool, because you can partition the switch into 2 or 3 separate virtual networks without buying a bunch of boxes. I write this not because I think VLAN switches are a general necessity, but rather because I have an idea of the kinds of activities Marc gets involved in, and suspect his networking needs are often far beyond ordinary. I'm going to add a testimonial for the HP switches here. Given that I'm a former Xylan/Alcatel employee, this should carry some weight. The Alcatel architecture is fairly good, but it carries a lot of baggage from the Xylan "any to any" switching architecture which tends to drive their cost up a bit. The HP ProCurves perform well and are reliable and (relatively) cheap. -- "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?" Wes Peters wes@softweyr.com