In <[🔎] 4C847F8A.3060202@hardwarefreak.com>, Stan Hoeppner wrote: >Layer 2 ethernet switches, the bulk of all sold to date, don't have any >knowledge of "packets". They don't store information about "seen >packets". > >Packets exist at layer 3 in OSI. Sorry, I was overusing the term "packet". I was not referring to an IP packet. I was referring to an Ethernet frame. It's still packet-ized data, rather than something like a TCP stream. Switches are quite aware of Ethernet frames. I've even uttered the the phrase "Ethernet packet" and most people understood what I meant, even though no such animal actually exists. I own a switch (actually, it is a roommate's) that operates at layers 2 and 3, does QOS, Vlans, STP, etc. It does not handle true routing, as all this configuration is either static or based on recently seen related packets. It doesn't understand BGP, OSPF, or any of the other routing protocols. Processing and possibly emitting data from one of the routing protocols is the main requirement to call something a router in my mind. Anything less is just a switch. Some of them are quite smart; others are relatively dumb. But, they are still "smart" devices when compared to a hub, cable, repeater, or other device that operates with no internal state. -- Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. ,= ,-_-. =. bss@iguanasuicide.net ((_/)o o(\_)) ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy `-'(. .)`-' http://iguanasuicide.net/ \_/
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