3Com Switches warranty VLANs, Traffic Management, Network Availability, Layer 3 Support

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VLANs

VLANs allow PCs, workstations, and other resources, including printers and file servers, to be organized into logical, broadcast domains so that only devices within the same domain can commu- nicate with each other. 3Com switches allow users to implement VLANs on their network using one of two schemes: IEEE 802.1Q, including GVRP, which enables the auto-learning of VLANs, or 3Com’s VLT. Both methods allow for the configuration of VLANs based on ports and/or MAC addresses for maximum flexibility and security. For 802.1Q VLANs, a port on a switch can be assigned to a VLAN; all other switches learn about that VLAN when the switches automatically communicate that

automatically enable a second port buffer for high-priority traffic thereby allowing the traffic to bypass lower pri- ority data for faster processing within the switch.

Traffic Management

Flow control

Flow control is an essential switch feature that eliminates dropped packets on congested ports. To provide switch application flexibility, 3Com switches support flow control schemes suited to both full- and half-duplex environments. Intelligent Flow Management (IFM) is a solution designed to work in half duplex, for example, a hub aggregation application. A solution using IEEE 802.3x is also supported and designed for full-duplex connections, such as desktop switching; this method of flow control is set automatically using the autosensing features of SuperStack II switches.

Broadcast traffic control

Traditional Ethernet switches suffer from the threat of broadcast storms that can potentially bring networks to a halt. However, all SuperStack II switches can be configured with broadcast storm protection to limit the number of broadcast packets allowed to be forwarded by each port. This allows the SuperStack II switches to offer the security of broadcast storm protection normally associated with a router while also providing the protocol independence of a switch.

Network Availability

Backup power supplies

3Com gives you all the choices you need to ensure constant power to your stackable switches. Both the Advanced Redundant Power System (ARPS) and the Uninterruptible Power System (UPS) work with any SuperStack II switch. The ARPS is ideally suited as a backup for individual power supplies in the SuperStack II units. The UPS fully protects your SuperStack II system from the effects of brownouts or spikes that occur in outside power lines.

Resilient links

3Com’s simple and flexible resilient links technology ensures fault tolerance via redundant connections to other network devices.

Spanning tree

Support for the industry-standard IEEE 802.1D spanning tree protocol is provided as an alternative to resilient links. This protects against network loops and can be used to provide redundant network paths.

Port trunking

Port trunking establishes backbone links by treating multiple parallel links as a single network pipe. Trunking also provides link redundancy; traffic on any failed link comprising a network trunk automatically switches over to the other links in the trunk.

knowledge via the GVRP protocol. Switches supporting both VLAN

schemes can be used to provide seamless migration from VLT to IEEE 802.1Q environments that preserve investment in current LAN developments and equipment.

Layer 3 Support

Multicast filtering using IGMP snooping

Multicast filtering enables the automatic configuration of filters for IP multicast traffic, such as video and audio broad- casts, allowing advanced multimedia applications to be delivered easily to the workgroup.

Fast IP

Fast IP is 3Com’s standards-based cut- through routing solution for all types of legacy routing network backbones.

This reduces traffic flow through router bottlenecks and maximizes performance by utilizing the switched infrastructure.

Layer 3 switching

Layer 3 switching is the implementation of routing protocols in leading-edge ASIC technology. Routing performance is dramatically and cost effectively boosted to enable the widespread deployment of intranets (IP-based networking).

L A N S w i t c h e s

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