For security reasons, you should change the default password and add an enable password on the Crescendo
and IOS CLI−based interface switches. In the next stage of the configuration, you should assign an IP address,
subnet mask, and default route to the route processor for routing and management purposes.
Once you have finished the preceding basic steps, you can connect the switch to the rest of the local network.
You can use many different types of physical media, such as Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet.
Switches have two types of connections: the connection to the switch console where you can initially
configure the switch or monitor the network, and the connection to an Ethernet port on the switch.
Different classifications of switches permit the switches to be placed in different layers of the network
architecture. Cisco prefers to use a hierarchal campus model for switches, to break down the complexity of the
network.
Campus Hierarchical Switching Model
Cisco defines a campus as a group of buildings connected into an enterprise network of multiple LANs. A
campus has a fixed geographic location and is owned and controlled by the same organization.
The campus hierarchical switching model, sometimes referred to as Cisco’s hierarchical internetworking
model, has been widely deployed in switching environments. However, telephone companies have been
adopting this system in their own switching environments—particularly recently, as they branch out as
providers of Internet, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), and other digital technologies. This model provides the
maximum bandwidth to the users of the network while also providing Quality of Service (QoS) features, such
as queuing.
Queuing
Queuing is a way of withholding bandwidth from one data process to provide a guarantee of bandwidth for
another. You can define queuing priorities for different traffic types; these priorities can be used in many
networking environments that require multiple high−priority queues, including Internet Protocol (IP),
Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX), and System Network Architecture (SNA) environments. Queues are
provided dynamically, which means that traffic can filter through the switch or router without
congestion—bandwidth is not withheld from use by queues.
Queuing offers a number of different types of configurations and ways to base traffic to be queued: Cisco
comes out with new solutions frequently. Here are a few of the most frequently used and recommended ways
to control traffic:
First in, first out (FIFO)—The queuing method most network administrators are familiar with. It
allows for buffering control, storing data traffic in buffers and then releasing it slowly when
congestion occurs on the network. This type of queuing works well on LANs where a switch or router
is the demarcation point for a high−speed link and a slower link.
•
Priority queuing (PQ)—Provides absolute preferential treatment, giving an identified type of data
traffic higher priority than other traffic. This method ensures that critical data traffic traversing
various links gets priority treatment over other types of data traffic. PQ also provides a faster response
time than other methods of queuing. Although you can enable priority output queuing for any
interface, it is best used for low−bandwidth, congested serial interfaces. Remember that PQ
introduces extra overhead, which is acceptable for slow interfaces but may not be acceptable for
high−speed interfaces.
•
Custom queuing (CQ)—Based on a packet or application identifier. This type of queuing is different
from PQ in that it assigns a varying window of bandwidth to each source of incoming bandwidth,
assigning each window to a queue. The switch then services each queue in a round−robin fashion.
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