Layer 2 and Layer 3 Switching

Freeha Khan 2nd Presentation IS 8040 Data Communication Theory and Practice
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Switching
Today in data communications, all switching and routing equipment perform two basic operations: Switching data frames Maintenance of switching operations Switching is the process of taking an incoming frame from one interface and delivering it out through another interface Routers use Layer 3 switching to route a packet, and switches (Layer 2 switches) use Layer 2 switching to forward frames
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Switches
Switches are similar to bridges but usually have more ports Switches provide a unique network segment on each port, thereby separating collision domains Today, network designers are replacing hubs in their wiring closets with switches to increase their network performance and bandwidth while protecting their existing wiring investments
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Switches
10/100-Mbps Ethernet Switches are good resolution if Ethernet LANs are stretched to the breaking point under the weight of
new users, servers and high-end applications

Most switches provide shared or dedicated 10/100 uplinks to other switches or network backbones, and some even provide one or two dedicated Gigabit Ethernet links for especially heavy bandwidth requirements
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Layer 2 Switching
Layer 2 switches, operate at the second, or data link, layer of the open systems interconnection model OSI Model
Application Presentation Session Transport Network Data Link Physical
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Layer 2 Switch

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Garrett Communications Magnum switches come with eight to 24 10/100-Mbps ports and range in price from $599 to $1,199.
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Layer 2 Switching
Layer 2 switches operate at MAC layer Layer 2 switches broadcast multicast traffic to all their ports very detrimental to performance Static entries can be defined on switches to control multicast at layer 2 but static entries do not react to dynamic behaviors

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Layer 2 Switching
Check incoming network traffic Keep track of the physical addresses of all stations attached to their ports Forward traffic to specific station addresses according to the forwarding tables Layer 2 switches can deliver data at wire speeds because they dont have to examine individual data packets
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Layer 2 Switching

Flow of intersubnet traffic with Layer 2 switches and routers

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Layer 2 Switching
If the Layer 2 switch does not know where to send the frame, it broadcasts the frame out all its ports to the network to learn the correct destination When the frame's reply is returned, the switch learns the location of the new address and adds the information to the switching table
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Layer 3 Switching
Layer 3 switching operates at the network layer
OSI Model
Application Presentation Session Transport Network Data Link Physical
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Layer 3 Switch
Limited-purpose Layer 3 switches are only available for Ethernet They only route IP/IPX protocols Capable to perform routing at wire speed: 10, 100, 1000 Mbps
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Layer 3 Switching
Hardware based packet-to-packet IP routing Hardware based routers cost less than traditional software-based routers They switch non-routable traffic to Layer 2

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Layer 3 Switch

RapierTM 10/100 Layer 3 Switch

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Layer 3 Switching
It examines packet information and forwards packets based on their network-layer destination addresses Layer 3 switching also supports router functionality

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Layer 3 Switching

Flow of intersubnet traffic with Layer 3 switches

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Difference between Layer 2 and Layer 3 Switches

The difference between Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching is the type of information inside the frame that is used to determine the correct output interface With Layer 2 switching, frames are switched based on MAC address information With Layer 3 switching, frames are switched based on network-layer information
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Difference between Layer 2 and Layer 3 Switches

Layer 2 switching does not look inside a packet for network-layer information as does layer 3 switching Layer 2 switching is performed by looking at a destination MAC address within a frame
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Difference between Layer 2 and Layer 3 Switches

Layer 3 switches looks at the frame's destination address and sends it to the appropriate interface if it knows the destination address location Layer 2 switching builds and maintains a switching table that keeps track of which MAC addresses belong to each port or interface
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References
Switched, Fast, and Gigabit Ethernet, Robert Breyer and Sean Riley, Third Edition Business Data Communications, Stallings, Fourth Edition http://www.gcn.com http://www.slac.stanford.edu/ http://www.cisco.com/univercd
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References
http://www.gcn.com/state/vol6_no9/guide/8372.html http://www.msic.com

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