Operation
Fully-Meshed VLAN Domains
The switches shown in figure 3-3 above are said to be fully meshed. The term “fully meshed” is often used when describing the connections between switches in a domain. Fully meshed implies that there are links between all switches to every other switch. A fully-meshed topology provides high reliability and low delays between endpoints. Figure 3-4 shows a VLAN domain consisting of four fully-meshed VLAN switches.
SFS Network
Figure 3-4. Fully-Meshed VLAN Domain
SecureFast VLAN Switches
SecureFast VLAN (SFVLAN) switches are connection-oriented internetworking devices. These devices use source address/destination address (SA/DA) pairs along with embedded layer 3 virtual routing services to provide address resolution and call processing. In a connection-oriented network, path determination is accomplished through signaling performed at call setup time. Once a call is programmed, no additional software intervention is required until the call is completed. This type of call management operates much like a telephone network. The circuit is set up, data is transferred, and the circuit is torn down.
Switches switch packets at the MAC layer and allow connectivity of endpoints via Access Ports based on VLAN mappings. The first packet is routed, the remaining packets are then switched along the same path. Each VLAN switch maintains a Local Directory of endpoint MAC and network addresses found on each switch port. The aggregation of each VLAN switch’s Local Directory form a complete view of an entire VLAN domain. This information is used by the VLAN Manager for assignment and verification of VLANs.
