Introduction

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Description of Software Features
The switch provides a wide range of advanced performan ce enhancing features.
Flow control eliminates the loss of packets due to bottlenecks caused by port
saturation. Broadcast storm suppression prevents broadcast traffic storms from
engulfing the network. Port-based and protocol-based VLANs, plus support for
automatic GVRP VLAN registration provide traffic security and efficient use of
network bandwidth. CoS priority queueing ensures the minimum delay for moving
real-time multimedia data across the network. While multicast filtering provides
support for real-time network applications. Some of the management features are
briefly described below.
Configuration Backup and Restore – You can save the current configuration
settings to a file on a TFTP server, and later download this file to restore the switch
configuration settings.
Authentication – This switch authenticates management a ccess via the console
port, Telnet or web browser. User names and passwords can be configured locally or
can be verified via a remote authentication server (i.e., RADIUS or TACACS+).
Port-based authentication is also supported via the IEEE 802.1x protocol. This
protocol uses the Extensible Authentication Protocol over LANs (EAPOL) t o request
user credentials from the 802.1x client, and then verifies the client’s right to access
the network via an authentication server.
Other authentication options include HTTPS for secure management access via the
web, SSH for secure management access over a Telnet-equivalent connection, IP
address filtering for SNMP/web/Telnet management access, and MAC address
filtering for port access.
Access Control Lists – ACLs provide packet filtering for IP frames (based on
address, protocol, TCP/UDP port number or TCP control code) or any frames
(based on MAC address or Ethernet type). ACLs can by used to improve
performance by blocking unnecessary network traffic or to implement security
controls by restricting access to specific network resources or protocols.
Port Configuration – You can manually configure the speed, duplex mode, and
flow control used on specific ports, or use auto-negotiation to detect the connection
settings used by the attached device. Use the full-duplex mode on ports whenever
possible to double the throughput of switch connections. Flow contr ol should also be
enabled to control network traffic during periods of congestion and prevent the loss
of packets when port buffer thresholds are exceeded. The switch supports flow
control based on the IEEE 802.3x standard.
AMAP Configures Alcatel Mapping Adjacency Protocol (AMAP) parameters and displays
information on attached AMAP-aware devices
Table1-1. Key Features
Feature Description