L2 Managed Switch Vs L3

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L2 managed switch vs l3.

Routing in layer 2 and layer 3 switch switching operates at layer 2 of the osi reference model where data packets are redirected to a destination port based on mac addresses. A layer 2 switch works with mac addresses only and does not care about ip address or any items of higher layers. However if the server and the client pc are located on different subnets and the traffic needs to be sent across between subnets then a layer 3 managed switch is needed which makes traffic. A layer 2 managed switch forwards traffic between network hosts such as a server and a client pc within the same subnet.

Layer 2 layer 3 in osi model. So layer 2 switches simple do switching. A layer 3 switch includes the functionality of a layer 2 switch and also is able to use layer 3 information ip addresses to make its forwarding decisions. Layer 3 switch make its forwarding decision in hardware asic application specific integrated circuits and router make its decision in software intelligence from ios.

So a layer 3 switch is aware of subnets and networks in addition to being aware of vlans. Layer 2 switch work on layer 2 of osi model i e. Since vlans exist in their own layer 3 subnet routing will need to occur for traffic to flow in between vlans. Layer 3 switch work on layer 3 of osi model i e.

Layer 2 vs layer 3 switch the main difference between layer 2 and layer 3 is the routing function. This is where a layer 3 switch can be utilized. The image below shows an example of a multi vlan environment on a layer 2 switch. A layer 3 switch is basically a switch that can perform routing functions in addition to switching.

A layer 3 switch on the other hand is a specialized hardware device used for routing data packets using ip. A layer 3 switch builds a layer 2 forwarding table to be able to forward within a vlan. Now the exceptions l3 switches like 6500 can be loaded with cards which support wan connections also. This is also the biggest difference lies between layer 2 switch and layer 3 switch.

Data link layer and sends a frames to destination port using mac address table which stores the mac address of a device associated with that port. The traffic forwarding decision is based on its mac address table entries.