Layer 2 Switching

Spanning Tree Protocol

Standard 802.1d Spanning Tree support

Fast convergence using 802.1w (Rapid Spanning Tree [RSTP]), enabled by default

8 instances are supported

Multiple Spanning Tree instances using 802.1s (MSTP)

Port grouping

Support for IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)

VLAN

Support for up to 4096 VLANs simultaneously

Port-based and 802.1Q tag-based VLANs

MAC-based VLAN

Management VLAN

Private VLAN Edge (PVE), also known as protected ports, with multiple uplinks

Guest VLAN

Unauthenticated VLAN

Dynamic VLAN assignment via RADIUS server along with 802.1x client authentication

CPE VLAN

Voice VLAN

Voice traffic is automatically assigned to a voice-specific VLAN and treated with appropriate levels of QoS

Auto voice capabilities deliver networkwide zero-touch deployment of voice endpoints and call control devices

Multicast TV VLAN

Multicast TV VLAN allows the single multicast VLAN to be shared in the network while subscribers remain in separate VLANs (also known as MVR)

Q-in-Q VLAN

VLANs transparently cross a service provider network while isolating traffic among customers

Generic VLAN Registration Protocol (GVRP)/Generic Attribute Registration Protocol (GARP)

Protocols for automatically propagating and configuring VLANs in a bridged domain

Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD)

UDLD monitors physical connection to detect unidirectional links caused by incorrect wiring or cable/port faults to prevent forwarding loops and blackholing of traffic in switched networks

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Relay at Layer 2

Relay of DHCP traffic to DHCP server in different VLAN; works with DHCP Option 82

Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) versions 1, 2, and 3 snooping

IGMP limits bandwidth-intensive multicast traffic to only the requesters; supports 1K multicast groups (source-specific multicasting is also supported)

IGMP Querier

IGMP querier is used to support a Layer 2 multicast domain of snooping switches in the absence of a multicast router

Head-Of-Line (HOL) blocking

HOL blocking prevention

Loopback Detection

Loopback detection provides protection against loops by transmitting loop protocol packets out of ports on which loop protection has been enabled. It operates independently of STP

Jumbo frames

Up to 9K (9216) bytes

Layer 3

IPv4 routing

Wirespeed routing of IPv4 packets

Up to 1K static routes and up to 128 IP interfaces

IPv6 routing

Wirespeed routing of IPv6 packets

Classless Interdomain Routing (CIDR)

Support for CIDR

Layer 3 Interface

Configuration of Layer 3 interface on physical port, LAG, VLAN interface, or loopback interface

DHCP relay at Layer 3

Relay of DHCP traffic across IP domains

User Datagram Protocol (UDP) relay

Relay of broadcast information across Layer 3 domains for application discovery or relaying of bootP/DHCP packets

DHCP Server

Switch functions as an IPv4 DHCP server serving IP addresses for multiple DHCP pools/scopes

Support for DHCP options

Security

Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol

SSH is a secure replacement for Telnet traffic. SCP also uses SSH. SSH v1 and v2 are supported

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

SSL support: Encrypts all HTTPS traffic, allowing highly secure access to the browser-based management GUI in the switch

IEEE 802.1X (Authenticator role)

802.1X: RADIUS authentication and accounting, MD5 hash; guest VLAN; unauthenticated VLAN, single/multiple host mode and single/multiple sessions

Supports time-based 802.1X

Dynamic VLAN assignment

Web-based authentication

Web based authentication provides network admission control through web browser to any host devices and operating systems

STP Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU) Guard

A security mechanism to protect the network from invalid configurations. A port enabled for BPDU Guard is shut down if a BPDU message is received on that port

STP Root Guard

This prevents edge devices not in the network administrator’s control from becoming Spanning Tree Protocol root nodes

DHCP snooping

Filters out DHCP messages with unregistered IP addresses and/or from unexpected or untrusted interfaces. This prevents rogue devices from behaving as DHCP Servers

IP Source Guard (IPSG)

When IP Source Guard is enabled at a port, the switch filters out IP packets received from the port if the source IP addresses of the packets have not been statically configured or dynamically learned from DHCP snooping. This prevents IP Address Spoofing

Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI)

The switch discards ARP packets from a port if there are no static or dynamic IP/MAC bindings or if there is a discrepancy between the source or destination addresses in the ARP packet. This prevents man-in-the-middle attacks

IP/MAC/Port Binding (IPMB)

The preceding features (DHCP Snooping, IP Source Guard, and Dynamic ARP Inspection) work together to prevent DOS attacks in the network, thereby increasing network availability

Secure Core Technology (SCT)

Makes sure that the switch will receive and process management and protocol traffic no matter how much traffic is received

Secure Sensitive Data (SSD)

A mechanism to manage sensitive data (such as passwords, keys, and so on) securely on the switch, populating this data to other devices, and secure autoconfig. Access to view the sensitive data as plaintext or encrypted is provided according to the user-configured access level and the access method of the user

Layer 2 isolation Private VLAN Edge (PVE) with community VLAN

PVE (also known as protected ports) provides Layer 2 isolation between devices in the same VLAN, supports multiple uplinks

Port security

The ability to lock source MAC addresses to ports and limits the number of learned MAC addresses

RADIUS/TACACS+

Supports RADIUS and TACACS authentication. Switch functions as a client

Storm control

Broadcast, multicast, and unknown unicast

RADIUS accounting

The RADIUS accounting functions allow data to be sent at the start and end of services, indicating the amount of resources (such as time, packets, bytes, and so on) used during the session

DoS prevention

Denial-Of-Service (DOS) attack prevention

ACLs

Support for up to 512 rules

Drop or rate limit based on source and destination MAC, VLAN ID or IP address, protocol, port, Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP)/IP precedence, TCP/UDP source and destination ports, 802.1p priority, Ethernet type, Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) packets, IGMP packets, TCP flag, time-based ACLs supported

Quality of Service

Priority levels

8 hardware queues

Scheduling

Strict priority and Weighted Round-Robin (WRR)

Queue assignment based on DSCP and class of service (802.1p/CoS)

Class of service

Port based; 802.1p VLAN priority based; IPv4/v6 IP precedence/Type of Service (ToS)/DSCP based; Differentiated Services (DiffServ); classification and remarking ACLs, trusted QoS

Rate limiting

Ingress policer; egress shaping and rate control; per VLAN, per port, and flow based

Congestion avoidance

A TCP congestion avoidance algorithm is required to minimize and prevent global TCP loss synchronization