Sunday, May 29, 2011

Different between Router and Layer 3 Switch

If this one is the interview question in cisco then u have to tell that switch it is ither l2 or l3 is best in lan 

where as the routers are best in WAN

Now a much complex approch layer 3 Routing Versus Layer 3 Switching.

It is important to understand the difference between Layer 3 routing and Layer 3 switching. Both terms are open to some interpretation; however, the distinction between both can perhaps be best explained by examining how an IP packet is routed. The process of routing an IP packet can be divided into two distinct processes:

Control plane—The control plane process is responsible for building and maintaining the IP routing table, which defines where an IP packet should be routed to based upon the destination address of the packet, which is defined in terms of a next hop IP address and the egress interface that the next hop is reachable from. Layer 3 routing generally refers to control plane operations.

Data plane—The data plane process is responsible for actually routing an IP packet, based upon information learned by the control plane. Whereas the control plane defines where an IP packet should be routed to, the data plane defines exactly how an IP packet should be routed. This information includes the underlying Layer 2 addressing required for the IP packet so that it reaches the next hop destination, as well as other operations required on for IP routing, such as decrementing the time-to-live (TTL) field and recomputing the IP header checksum. Layer 3 switching generally refers to data plane operations.

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