How to change LAN switch purchasing guide from novice to expert

The purchase guide for LAN switches changes from novice to expert. When purchasing LAN switches, you should pay attention to the following aspects: differences between switches and hubs, switch classification, and extended functions, vlan router ul Lan Virtual Lan, layer-3 routing function.

Today, medium-and small-sized enterprises all have dozens of computers and are used in all aspects of enterprise production and operation. How to connect all the computers in the office space to share resources and make full use of the overall effect needs to use the network equipment-LAN switches we will introduce today.

LAN switch Purchase: What is the difference between a vswitch and a hub?

Vswitches and hubs are very similar in appearance. How can we tell the difference between them? Switch) is a device that works on the second layer, that is, the data link layer. It forwards data frames according to the MAC address. HUB is a device that works on the physical layer. It does not provide data exchange. It is equivalent to a cable that connects various network nodes, while the switch can provide a data channel between any two network nodes to prevent conflicts, it can meet the needs of current users for high-speed data exchange.

LAN switch Purchase: Switch Type

Vswitches are divided into storage forwarding and fast forwarding by forwarding type. The storage and forwarding switch needs to perform CRC verification on the data packet after receiving a complete data packet. If an error occurs, the data packet is discarded and forwarded without any error. This will lead to a certain delay, however, data integrity is ensured. The fast-forward switch does not verify frames. After receiving the data, it forwards the data immediately. The forwarding speed is fast, but it also forwards the wrong data packets.

LAN switch Purchase: Extended Functions

When you go to the market to ask about the price of the switch, you will find that there will be a huge price gap between different models for switches with the same number of ports produced by the same manufacturer. This is because various vendors have developed many extension functions for different types of users.

Lan switch Purchase: Vlan router ul Lan Virtual Lan

It divides users into different logical groups based on their logical characteristics, and isolates different user groups on the data link layer. For example, the finance department and the engineering department of the company are connected to a switch. They are in a broadcast domain and can communicate with each other, which leads to security issues. Therefore, we can divide these two departments into two different VLANs on the vswitch so that they have their own broadcast domains, thus improving network security.

In the market, the Vlan functions of a switch can be divided into Vlan conforming to the IEEE 802.1Q standard and port-based Vlan. IEEE 802.1Q Vlan supports a maximum of 4096 Vlan groups and can be implemented across switches. A port-based Vlan can only be implemented on one vswitch, and its Vlan information is not carried into other vswitches connected to it.

LAN switch Purchase: Qos

The wide application of voice, video and other multimedia technologies puts forward certain real-time requirements for data transmission. To implement Qos, the switch needs to forward traffic based on the service type. Of course, the service level can be determined based on the user's actual situation.

LAN switch Purchase: layer-3 routing

Generally, a common switch only works on the data link layer, while a router works on the network layer. A powerful layer-3 switch can work at both the data link layer and the network layer, and forward data packets based on the MAC address or IP address. However, it should be noted that the layer-3 Switch cannot completely replace the router, because it is mainly used for communication between two VLANs in different subnets, rather than for the complex path selection of data transmission.

LAN switch Purchase: Network Management

Network management refers to the centralized management of switches by network administrators through network management programs. The management level supported by a vswitch reflects the manageability and operability of the device. Vswitches with network management function can monitor the traffic of each port, set the speed of each port, and close/open the port connection.

Key points for LAN switches: by monitoring switch ports, You can differentiate network business traffic and quickly define network faults, improving network manageability. In addition to the features described above, some new vswitches also provide extended functions such as port aggregation, 802.1X authentication, and MAC Address binding.