Switch Features

Switch features and concepts

          Lawyer 2 switches :
Makes forwarding decision based on mac Address



Mac Address : 48 bits lengths

A mac address has two parts:

Tcam is a lawyer 3 version of the cam table

Lawyer 3 switch (Multilayer switch) has some functionality of a router but not all the features in a router like ACL's .

A lawyer 3  switch is going to follow CAM  information  and TCAM information  and can forward based on the IP address

A lawyer 3 can make forward decisions based on  the IP address (FIB) table

CEF: Cisco Express forwarding: A packet switching technology  that makes forwarding decisions  based on the (FIB) table and adjacency table

Differences between routers and switches:

• A router will have an ayxiliary port
• Switches support interface connections, routers suport serial coneections T1,E1,analogs for phoes, etc
• Routers have more features flexibility
• Switches have more ports available
•  Switches uses ASICS (Application integrated circuits) a high speed circuit for specific purpose, like frame forwarding ..It's called wire Speed
• Switches can have multiple Tcams: example , 1 for outbound ACLS, 1 for inbound ACLS 1 for QOS

Etherchannel: A technology that aggregates multiple physical ports  into a logical port, providing redundancy, load balancing  and increase throughput