ECS4510 Series Web Management Guide-R03

Chapter 1 | Introduction
Description of Software Features
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allows you select traffic based on Layer 2, Layer 3, or Layer 4 information contained
in each packet. Based on network policies, different kinds of traffic can be marked
for different kinds of forwarding.
Ethernet Ring
Protection Switching
ERPS can be used to increase the availability and robustness of Ethernet rings, such
as those used in Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN). ERPS provides Layer 2 loop
avoidance and fast reconvergence in Layer 2 ring topologies, supporting up to 255
nodes in the ring structure. It can also function with IEEE 802.1ag to support link
monitoring when non-participating devices exist within the Ethernet ring.
IP Routing The switch provides Layer 3 IP routing. To maintain a high rate of throughput, the
switch forwards all traffic passing within the same segment, and routes only traffic
that passes between different subnetworks. The wire-speed routing provided by
this switch lets you easily link network segments or VLANs together without having
to deal with the bottlenecks or configuration hassles normally associated with
conventional routers.
Routing for unicast traffic is supported with static routing, and Routing Information
Protocol (RIP).
Static Routing – Traffic is automatically routed between any IP interfaces
configured on the switch. Routing to statically configured hosts or subnet
addresses is provided based on next-hop entries specified in the static routing
table.
RIP – This protocol uses a distance-vector approach to routing. Routes are
determined on the basis of minimizing the distance vector, or hop count, which
serves as a rough estimate of transmission cost.
Address Resolution
Protocol
The switch uses ARP and Proxy ARP to convert between IP addresses and MAC
(hardware) addresses. This switch supports conventional ARP, which locates the
MAC address corresponding to a given IP address. This allows the switch to use IP
addresses for routing decisions and the corresponding MAC addresses to forward
packets from one hop to the next. Either static or dynamic entries can be
configured in the ARP cache.
Proxy ARP allows hosts that do not support routing to determine the MAC address
of a device on another network or subnet. When a host sends an ARP request for a
remote network, the switch checks to see if it has the best route. If it does, it sends
its own MAC address to the host. The host then sends traffic for the remote
destination via the switch, which uses its own routing table to reach the destination
on the other network.
Operation,
Administration,
and Maintenance
The switch provides OAM remote management tools required to monitor and
maintain the links to subscriber CPEs (Customer Premise Equipment). This section