Chapter 13 Interfaces

• Trunks manage load balancing between interfaces.

Port groups, trunks, and the auxiliary interface have a lot of characteristics that are specific to each type of interface. See Section 13.2 on page 293, Chapter 14 on page 363, and Section 13.10 on page 354 for details. The other types of interfaces--Ethernet, PPP, cellular, VLAN, bridge, and virtual--have a lot of similar characteristics. These characteristics are listed in the following table and discussed in more detail below.

Table 56 Ethernet, PPP, Cellular, VLAN, Bridge, and Virtual Interface Characteristics

CHARACTERISTICS

ETHERNET

PPP

CELLULAR

VLAN

BRIDGE

VIRTUAL

Name*

gex

pppx

cellularx

vlanx

brx

**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IP Address Assignment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Static IP address

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DHCP client

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Routing metric

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interface Parameters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bandwidth restrictions

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Packet size (MTU)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DHCP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DHCP server

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DHCP relay

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connectivity Check

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*- The format of interface names other than the Ethernet and ppp interface names is strict. Each name consists of 2-4 letters (interface type), followed by a number (x, limited by the maximum number of each type of interface). For example, VLAN interfaces are vlan0, vlan1, vlan2, ...; and so on.

**- The names of virtual interfaces are derived from the interfaces on which they are created. For example, virtual interfaces created on Ethernet interface ge1 are called ge1:1, ge1:2, and so on. Virtual interfaces created on VLAN interface vlan2 are called vlan2:1, vlan2:2, and so on. You cannot specify the number after the colon(:) in the Web Configurator; it is a sequential number. You can specify the number after the colon if you use the CLI to set up a virtual interface.

Relationships Between Interfaces

In the ZyWALL, interfaces are usually created on top of other interfaces. Only Ethernet interfaces are created directly on top of the physical ports or port groups. The relationships between interfaces are explained in the following table.

Table 57 Relationships Between Different Types of Interfaces

INTERFACE

REQUIRED PORT /

INTERFACE

 

auxiliary interface

auxiliary port

 

 

port group

physical port

 

 

Ethernet interface

physical port

 

port group

 

 

 

291

ZyWALL USG 300 User’s Guide