Specifications

D-Link xStack Switch Series: Meeting the Need at the Edge of the Network 8
D-Link Systems, Inc.
October 2004
Layer 3 Wire-speed Packet Routing
Layer 3 IP routing performed at the switch level offloads the routing burden handled by a
network router, thus enabling the network to run more efficiently. xStack switch’s Layer 3 IP
routing provides support for RIP v.1, v.2, OSPF, and DVMRP protocols performed by on-board
ASICs at speeds many times faster than CPU-based routers. xStack switches provide wire-speed
non-blocking switch fabrics with extremely fast hardware-based packet filtering/forwarding and
instant support for Windows, Unix, and Internet environments.
VLAN support
VLANs can be established for each switch to extend the broadcast domain and segment network
traffic. These VLANs can be spread among port-based or protocol-based VLANs. The VLANs
can be on a standalone switch or across a stack. Protocol-based VLANs allow switch ports to be
assigned to a broadcast domain based on the protocol information within the packet. These
VLANs localize broadcast traffic and assure that the specified protocol type packets are sent only
to the protocol-based VLAN ports. xStack switches have been designed to support up to 4,000
VLANs. xStack switches also support per VLAN Tagging option on each port.
Multi-layer Quality of Service (QoS) Applied at the Edge
xStack Switches implement a robust set of multi-layer (L2, L3, L4) QoS/CoS features to ensure
that critical network services like VoIP, ERP, Intranet, and video conference are served with
proper priority. Up to 8 priority queues for 802.1p/TOS/DiffServ are supported, with
classification and marking based on MAC SA/DA, IP SA/DA, and/or TCP/UDP port numbers.
QoS provides granular control where the user meets the network. This is particularly important
for networks migrating to converged applications where differential treatment of information is
essential. QoS is also necessary for the migration to Gigabit or 10-Gigabit Ethernet speeds,
where congestion must be avoided.
xStack switches use advanced QoS DiffServ and 802.1p (Class of Service) protocols to classify,
prioritize, and mark LAN traffic as a way to efficiently use existing bandwidth and offer reliable
connectivity for mission-critical applications and converged networks that are susceptible to
bandwidth availability, system latency, and jitter.