5/27/2023 0 Comments Layer 3 switchIt can be best described by what more it does compared to a Layer 2 switch and what less it does compared to a Gateway Router. The Layer 3 switch functionally exists somewhere between being a Layer 2 switch and being a Gateway Router. Since a router holds information about multiple networks (LAN WAN VLAN) it is also able to pass traffic along between these networks. A router is able to look into the Layer 3 portion of traffic passing through it (the source and destination IP addresses) to decide how it should pass that traffic along. The most common Layer 3 device used in a network is the router. Therefore, when you need traffic to cross between LANs (or VLANs) is when we need a Layer 3 network switch. Traffic being switched by MAC address is isolated within the LAN those devices are using. The MAC address is something that operates within Layer 2 of the OSI model (what defines how networks operate). A Layer 2 switch does this by keeping a table of all the MAC addresses it has learned and what physical port they can be found on. The main function of a Layer 2 is to help the traffic from devices within a LAN reach each other. Why this happens? Layer 2 vs Layer 3 switch: What’s the difference? Which one should I deploy? Now as network complexity increases and applications demand greater functions from the network, Layer 3 switches are coming out of the data center and high level enterprise settings. Over the years, the average network has been dominated by the Layer 2 switch.
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