Part E Switch Technology Introduction In appearance, a switch is simple, just a case of having a number of ports, that can be connected with a variety of different devices such as workstations, routers or other switches through these ports. When a packet arrives at one input port, the task of the switch is to decide either to discard the packet, or move it to the correct output port for transmission. The correct output port is determined the packets according to the information carried in the packet. In some cases, the switch itself also can determined the packets according to internal information. The switch technology can be applied to both local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN). LAN Switch can be used to transfer packets …show more content…
Switching technology is operate in the second layer of the OSI network model, called data link layer. Hence, the switch is forwarding packets based on MAC (Media Access Control) address - the physical address. In the second layer switch technology, it include two types of mode: Cut through mode and Stored and forward …show more content…
Due to the operating principle of store and forward technology, it will take a longer time to store and check the frame. Therefore, the efficiency of this technology is lower than cut-through technology. VLAN VLAN is an important and useful application of LAN switching technology. By definition, VLAN is a broadcast domain where members use LAN switch to communicate. It seems all members share the same physical network. In VLAN, the members who in the divided broadcast domain do not have the limitation of physics and geography. They can connected to the different switches in a switched network. Broadcast packet, unknown packets and data packets of members are be limited in the VLAN. Another definition of V LAN is that it allows a single switch fabric divided into multiple small broadcast domains. (Micrel, 2004) The figure shows that the members of V LAN can physically connected to the same or different switches. The LAN switch used as a transmission carrier so that the members of VLAN can communicate with low latency and high speed rate. Membership control, topology independence and high-speed LAN internal connection technology provide a number of advantages for