Technical data

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Preface
The RackSwitch G8000 Application Guide describes how to configure and use the software on the
RackSwitch G8000 switch. For documentation about installing the switch physically, see the
Installation Guide for your switch.
Who Should Use This Guide
This Application Guide is intended for network installers and system administrators engaged in
configuring and maintaining a network. The administrator should be familiar with Ethernet
concepts, IP addressing, Spanning Tree Protocol, and SNMP configuration parameters.
What You’ll Find in This Guide
This guide will help you plan, implement, and administer BLADE OS software. Where possible,
each section provides feature overviews, usage examples, and configuration instructions.
 Chapter 1, “Accessing the Switch,” describes how to access the switch to perform
administration tasks. This chapter also discusses different methods to manage the switch for
remote administrators using specific IP addresses, authentication, and Secure Shell (SSH).
 Chapter 2, “Port-based Network Access Control,” describes how to authenticate devices
attached to a LAN port that has point-to-point connection characteristics. It prevents access to
ports that fail authentication and authorization. This feature provides security for switch ports.
 Chapter 3, “VLANs,” describes how to configure Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) for
creating separate network segments, including how to use VLAN tagging for devices that use
multiple VLANs. This chapter also describes Private VLANs.
 Chapter 4, “Ports and Trunking,” describes how to group multiple physical ports together to
aggregate the bandwidth between large-scale network devices.
 Chapter 5, “Spanning Tree Group,” discusses how Spanning Trees configure the network so
that the switch uses the most efficient path when multiple paths exist.