It also stores the MAC address of D1 in the address table as it was sent by D1 to switch with the ARP request message.Similarly, D2 also sends its MAC address in the ARP message,the switch now takes the MAC address of D2 and banks it into the MAC address table.Here, with the help of the above-given messages, switch learns which MAC addresses are assigned to which ports.D2, when receives the ARP request, replies to the ARP response message with its MAC address.The Layer switch sends the ARP request to all the ports that exclude the port on which D1 is connected.Thus D1 uses an ARP to discover the MAC address of D2.However, it does not know the MAC (hardware) address of the recipient host. D1 knows the IP address of D2 as they are communicating for the first time.

D1 wants to send a data packet to D2 for the first time.Here is an example of a network where a switch is connected to four host devices known as D1, D2, D3, and D4. That is how layer 3 switch acts as both for switch and a router. It helps to inspect incoming packets and makes routing decisions based on the source and destination addresses. This type of CISCO network switches support routing protocols. It acts as a switch to connect devices that are on the same subnet or virtual LAN. This type of layer helps you to combine the functionality of a switch and a router. A client computer needs a default gateway for layer 3 connectivity to any remote subnets. Difference between Layer 2 and Layer 3 SwitchesĪ Layer 3 switch is a switch that performs routing functions in addition to switching.In this networking tutorial, you will learn: Instead, they should look at the frame’s hardware addresses, which helps you decide what action needs to take like forward, flood, or drop it. Layer 2 ethernet switches are faster compared to routers, as they do not take much time for evaluation at the network layer header information. It builds tables for the transfer of frames among systems. They interconnect networks at layer 2, mostly at the MAC sub-layer, and operate as bridges. Layer 2 CISCO switches are similar to bridges. They help to break up large size collision domain into separate smaller ones. Switches and bridges are mostly used for Layer 2 switching. It is the process of using devices and MAC addresses on a LAN to segment a network. The term Layer 2 is adopted from the Open System Interconnect ( OSI) model, which is a reference model for explaining and describing network communications.

Tor switch vs core switch