Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 14:25:34 -0800 From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: "Per Engelbrecht" <per@xterm.dk>, <scrappy@hub.org> Cc: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Looking for switch recommendations ... Message-ID: <200403261425.34253.wes@softweyr.com> In-Reply-To: <34426.62.242.151.142.1080329152.squirrel@mailbox.wingercom.dk> References: <20040326141509.G90406@ganymede.hub.org> <34426.62.242.151.142.1080329152.squirrel@mailbox.wingercom.dk>
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On Friday 26 March 2004 11:25 am, Per Engelbrecht wrote:
> > What is the difference between Layer2 and Layer3, and what does
> > that affect?
>
> All switching is done in layer2!
Not true!
> Layer3 switch 'features' (functionality) is was the vendor put in the
> box. Depending on the amount of $ you're going to spent, you can have
> switches that can act as routers.
In the Xylan (now Alcatel) second-generation switches (The "X-Frame"
backplane) the switching hardward was capable of switching on the MAC
header *or* other predefined parts of the packet if no MAC header matches
were found. This feature was used to implement hardware routing (the HRE-X
module), allowing us to route packets between IP networks at a million
packets per second.
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters wes@softweyr.com
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