D-Link DES-3326S manual Introduction

DES-3326S Layer 3 Fast Ethernet Switch User’s Guide

Ethernet port to connect to a separate device, which in turn, connects the network to a WAN or the Internet.

The DES-3326S can be thought of as 24 Fast Ethernet Layer 2 switching domains with a wire-speed router between each domain. It can be deployed in a network between a traditional router and the intranetwork. The traditional router and its associated WAN interface would then handle routing between the intranetwork and the WAN (the Internet, for example) while the Layer 3 switch would handle routing within the LAN (between the Fast Ethernet Layer 2 domains). Any installed Layer 2 switches, and indeed the entire subnetting scheme, would remain in place.

The DES-3326S can also replace key traditional routers for data centers and server farms, routing between these locations and the rest of the network, and providing 24 ports of Layer 2 switching performance combined with wire-speed routing.

Backbone routers can also be replaced with DES-3326S and a series of DES-3326S could be linked via the optional Gigabit Ethernet ports. Routers that service WAN connections would remain in place, but would now be removed from the backbone and connected to the DES-3326S via an Ethernet/Fast Ethernet port. The backbone itself could be migrated to Gigabit Ethernet, or faster technologies as they become available.

The DES-3326S accomplishes two objectives. First as a tool to provide high-performance access to enterprise data servers and infrastructure, and second, to enhance the performance of network equipment already installed. Many network segments display poor performance, but the Ethernet wire is only carrying a fraction of its total traffic capacity. The problem is not necessarily the network, but the ability of the connected devices utilize the full capacity of the network. The DES- 3326S can eliminate network bottlenecks to high-traffic areas,

14 Introduction