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Catalyst 6500 Series Switch Cisco IOS Software Configuration Guide—Release 12.1 E
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Configuring LAN Ports for Layer 2 Switching
This chapter describes how to use the command-line interface (CLI) to configure Ethernet, Fast Ethernet,
Gigabit Ethernet, and 10-Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports for Layer 2 switching on the Catalyst 6500 series
switches. The configuration tasks in this chapter apply to LAN ports on LAN switching modules and to
the LAN ports on the supervisor engine.
Note For complete syntax and usage information for the commands used in this chapter, refer to the
Catalyst 6500 Series Switch Cisco IOS Command Reference publication.
This chapter consists of these sections:
Understanding How Layer 2 Switching Works, page 7-1
Default Layer 2 LAN Interface Configuration, page 7-5
Layer 2 LAN Interface Configuration Guidelines and Restrictions, page 7-6
Configuring LAN Interfaces for Layer 2 Switching, page 7-7
Note To configure Layer 3 interfaces, see Chapter 12, “Configuring Layer 3 Interfaces.

Understanding How Layer 2 Switching Works

These sections describe how Layer 2 switching works on the Catalyst 6500 series switches:
Understanding Layer 2 Ethernet Switching, page 7-1
Understanding VLAN Trunks, page 7-2
Layer 2 LAN Port Modes, page 7-4

Understanding Layer 2 Ethernet Switching

These sections describe Layer 2 Ethernet switching:
Layer 2 Ethernet Switching Overview, page 7-2
Switching Frames Between Segments, page 7-2
Building the Address Table, page 7-2