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

system or network, but must communicate and interoperate. This requires very well-defined and well-known methods for transferring messages and data. This is accomplished through the protocol stack.

Protocol layering as simply a tool for visualizing the organization of the necessary software and hardware in a network. In this view, Layer 2 represents switching and Layer 3 represents routing. Protocol layering is actually a set of guidelines used in writing programs and designing hardware that delegate network functions and allow the layers to communicate. How these layers communicate within a stack (for example, within a given computer) is left to the operating system programmers.

Figure 5-9. The Protocol Stack

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Switch Management and Operating Concepts

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D-Link DES-3326S manual Protocol Stack