L2 Managed Switch Vs L3

The traffic forwarding decision is based on its mac address table entries.

L2 managed switch vs l3.

A layer 2 switch works with mac addresses only and does not care about ip address or any items of higher layers. Layer 3 switch work on layer 3 of osi model i e. 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. These solutions are optimized for a wide range of industries including service providers financial services and the public sector.

Since vlans exist in their own layer 3 subnet routing will need to occur for traffic to flow in between vlans. This is also the biggest difference lies between layer 2 switch and layer 3 switch. Layer 2 layer 3 in osi model. So a layer 3 switch is aware of subnets and networks in addition to being aware of vlans.

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. A layer 3 switch builds a layer 2 forwarding table to be able to forward within a vlan. A layer 3 switch is basically a switch that can perform routing functions in addition to switching. So layer 2 switches simple do switching.

Layer 2 vs layer 3 switch the main difference between layer 2 and layer 3 is the routing function. Network layer where it route packet by using ip address it is used widely on vlans. 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. Cisco delivers a comprehensive portfolio of switching solutions for enterprise networks data centers and smaller businesses.

The image below shows an example of a multi vlan environment on a layer 2 switch. Now the exceptions l3 switches like 6500 can be loaded with cards which support wan connections also. So l3 switch happen to be faster than router in forwarding packets. This is where a layer 3 switch can be utilized.

Layer 2 switch work on layer 2 of osi model i e. 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.