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LANswitchingWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia
LANswitching
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia
LANswitchingisaformofpacketswitchingusedinlocalareanetworks(LAN).Switchingtechnologiesarecrucialtonetworkdesign,astheyallowtraffictobe
sentonlywhereitisneededinmostcases,usingfast,hardwarebasedmethods.LANswitchingusesdifferentkindsofnetworkswitches.Astandardswitchis
knownasalayer2switchandiscommonlyfoundinnearlyanyLAN.Layer3orlayer4switchesrequireadvancedtechnology(seemanagedswitch)andare
moreexpensive,andthusareusuallyonlyfoundinlargerLANsorinspecialnetworkenvironments.
Contents
1 Layer2switching
1.1 Limitations
2 Layer3switching
3 Layer4switching
4 Multilayerswitching(MLS)
5 Seealso
6 References
Layer2switching
Layer2switchingusesthemediaaccesscontroladdress(MACaddress)fromthehost'snetworkinterfacecards(NICs)todecidewheretoforwardframes.Layer2
switchingishardwarebased,[1]whichmeansswitchesuseapplicationspecificintegratedcircuit(ASICs)tobuildandmaintainfiltertables(alsoknownasMAC
addresstablesorCAMtables).Onewaytothinkofalayer2switchisasamultiportbridge.
Layer2switchingprovidesthefollowing
Hardwarebasedbridging(MAC)
Wirespeed/nonblockingforwarding
Lowlatency
Layer2switchingishighlyefficientbecausethereisnomodificationtothedatapacketandtheframeencapsulationofthepacketchangesonlywhenthedata
packetispassingthroughdissimilarmedia(suchasfromEthernettoFDDI).Layer2switchingisusedforworkgroupconnectivityandnetworksegmentation
(breakingupcollisiondomains).Thisallowsaflatternetworkdesignwithmorenetworksegmentsthantraditionalnetworksjoinedbyrepeaterhubsandrouters.
Layer2switchinghashelpeddevelopnewcomponentsinthenetworkinfrastructure.
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ServerfarmsServersneednolongerbedistributedtophysicallocationsbecausevirtualLANscanbecreatedtocreatebroadcastdomainsandnetwork
proximityinaswitchedinternetwork.Thismeansthatallserverscanbeplacedinacentrallocation,yetacertainservercanstillbepartofaworkgroupina
remotebranch,forexample.
IntranetsAllowsorganizationwideclient/servercommunicationsbasedonaWebtechnology.
Thesenewtechnologiesallowmoredatatoflowofffromlocalsubnetsandontoaroutednetwork,wherearouter'sperformancecanbecomethebottleneck.
Limitations
Layer2switcheshavethesamelimitationsasbridgenetworks.Bridgesaregoodifanetworkisdesignedbythe80/20rule:usersspend80percentoftheirtimeon
theirlocalsegment.
Bridgednetworksbreakupcollisiondomains,butthenetworkremainsonelargebroadcastdomain.Similarly,layer2switches(bridges)cannotbreakupbroadcast
domains,whichcancauseperformanceissuesandlimitsthesizeofyournetwork.Broadcastandmulticasts,alongwiththeslowconvergenceofspanningtree,can
causemajorproblemsasthenetworkgrows.Becauseoftheseproblems,layer2switchescannotcompletelyreplaceroutersintheinternetwork.
Layer3switching
Layer3switchingissolelybasedon(destination)IPaddressstoredintheheaderofIPdatagram(seelayer4switchinglateronthispageforthedifference).The
differencebetweenalayer3switchandarouteristhewaythedeviceismakingtheroutingdecision.Traditionally,routersusemicroprocessorstomake
forwardingdecisionsinsoftware,whiletheswitchperformsonlyhardwarebasedpacketswitching(byspecializedASICwiththehelpofcontentaddressable
memory).[2]However,sometraditionalrouterscanhaveadvancedhardwarefunctionsaswellinsomeofthehigherendmodels.
Themainadvantageoflayer3switchesisthepotentialtolowerlatencyasitcanrouteapacketatthesametimeitwouldneedtoforwarditasswitch.Inextreme,
connectingtwodistinctsegments(e.g.VLANs)witharouterexternaltoastandardlayer2switchrequirespassingtheframefromtheswitchtotherouter(firstL2
hop),makingtheroutingdecisioninsidetherouter(L3hop),andthenpassingtheframebacktotheswitch(secondL2hop).Alayer3switchaccomplishesthe
sametaskwithasinglehop,combiningtheL3hopwithjustoneL2hop.
Aslayer3switcheshavenodifferentfunctionallythanatraditionalrouter,theycouldbeplacedanywhereinthenetworkbecausetheycosteffectivelyreplace
expensiveadvancedrouterswithsimilarthroughputandlatency.Theoperationsthatalayer3switchdoesinthesamemannerasatraditionalrouterare:
Determinepathsbasedonlogicaladdressing
Runlayer3checksums(onheaderonly)
UseTimetoLive(TTL)
Processandrespondtoanyoptioninformation
UpdateSimpleNetworkManagementProtocol(SNMP)managerswithManagementInformationBase(MIB)information
ProvideSecurity
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Thebenefitsoflayer3switchingincludethefollowing:
Hardwarebasedpacketforwarding
Highperformancepacketswitching
Highspeedscalability
Lowlatency
Lowerperportcost
Flowaccounting
Qualityofservice(QoS)
Theswitchingalgorithmisrelativelysimpleandisthesameformostoftheroutedprotocols:ahostwouldliketosendapackettoahostonanothernetwork.
Havingacquiredarouter'saddressbysomemeans,thesourcehostsendsthepacketdirectlytothatrouter'sphysical(MAC)address.Theprotocol(networklayer)
addressisthatofthedestinationhost.
Therouterexaminesthepacket'sdestinationprotocoladdressanddetermineswhetheritknowshowtoforwardthepacketornot.Iftherouterdoesnotknowhow
toforwardthepacket,ittypicallydropsthepacket.Ifitknowshowtoforwardpacket,itchangesthedestinationphysicaladdresstothatofthenexthoprouterand
transmitsthepacket.
Thenexthopmaybethedestinationorthenextrouter,whichexecutesthesameswitchingprocess.Asthepacketmovesthroughtheinternetwork,itsphysical
addresschanges,butitsprotocoladdressremainssame.
IEEEhasdevelopedhierarchicalterminologythatisusefulindescribingthisprocess.Networkdeviceswithoutthecapabilitytoforwardpacketsbetween
subnetworksarecalledendsystems(ESs,singularES),whereasnetworkdeviceswiththesecapabilitiesarecalledintermediatesystems(ISs).ISsarefurther
dividedintothosethatcommunicateonlywithintheirroutingdomain(IntradomainES)andthosethatcommunicatebothwithinandbetweenroutingdomains
(InterdomainsIS).Aroutingdomainisgenerallyconsideredasportionofaninternetworkundercommonadministrativeauthorityandisregulatedbyaparticular
setofadministrativeguidelines.Routingdomainsarealsocalledautonomoussystems.
Layer4switching
Layer4switchingmeanshardwarebasedlayer3switchingtechnologythatcanalsoconsiderthetypeofnetworktraffic(forexample,distinguishbetweenHTTP,
FTPorVoIP).Layer4switchingprovidesadditionaldatagraminspectionbyreadingtheportnumbersfoundintheTransportlayerheadertomakerouting
decisions(i.e.portsusedbyUDPorTCP).TheseportnumbersarefoundinRFC1700andreferencetheupperlayerprotocol,program,orapplication.
Thelargestbenefitoflayer4switchingisthatthenetworkadministratorcanconfigurealayer4switchtoprioritizedatatrafficbyapplication,whichmeansaQoS
canbedefinedforeachuser.Forexample,anumberofuserscanbedefinedasaVideogroupandbeassignedmorepriority,orbandwidth,basedontheneedfor
videoconferencing.
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Layer4informationhasbeenusedtohelpmakeroutingdecisionsforquiteawhile.Forexample,extendedaccesslistscanfilterpacketsbasedonlayer4port
numbers.AnotherexampleisaccountinginformationgatheredbyopenstandardsusingsFlowprovidedbycompanieslikeAristaNetworksorproprietary
solutionslikeNetFlowswitchinginCisco'shigherendrouters.
Multilayerswitching(MLS)
Multilayerswitchingcombineslayer2,3and4switchingtechnologiesandprovideshighspeedscalabilitywithlowlatency.Itaccomplishesthishigh
combinationofhighspeedscalabilitywithlowlatencybyusinghugefiltertablesbasedonthecriteriadesignedbythenetworkadministrator.
Multilayerswitchingcanmovetrafficatwirespeedandalsoprovidelayer3routing,whichcanremovethebottleneckfromthenetworkrouters.Thistechnology
isbasedontheideaof"routeonce,switchmany".
Multilayerswitchingcanmakerouting/switchingdecisionsbasedonthefollowing
MACsource/destinationaddressinaDataLinkframe
IPsource/destinationaddressintheNetworklayerheader
ProtocolfieldintheNetworklayerheader
Portsource/destinationnumbersintheTransportlayerheader
Thereisnoperformancedifferencebetweenalayer3andalayer4switchbecausetherouting/switchingisallhardwarebased(routingdecisionisdoneby
specializedASICwiththehelpofcontentaddressablememory).[2]
Seealso
Networkswitch
Contentswitch
Residentialgateway
References
1.TechsoftComputing(http://www.techsoftcomputing.com/internetworkdesign/nd2002.html#wp3310)
2.Hucaby,David(Oct24,2003)."SwitchOperationfortheCCNPBCMSNExam".ciscopress.com.CiscoPress.Retrieved20150205.
Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=LAN_switching&oldid=718575244"
Categories: Telecommunicationsequipment Localareanetworks
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