The main functions of the network switch

Network switches allow two or more IT devices to communicate with each other. In addition to connecting to terminal devices such as PCs and printers, switches can also be connected to other switches, routers and firewalls, all of which can provide connections to other devices. Network switches can also support virtual networks, allowing large networks composed of interconnected devices to communicate, while separating some device groups from other device groups for security purposes without the need for separate, expensive physical networks.

What is the difference between a switch and a router?

The actual difference between a switch and a router is what you plug in. Switches are used to connect many devices, such as servers, pcs, and printers. Routers are increasingly focused on routing packets between physical sites and from small home networks to the world's largest data center.

When you purchase a switch, you usually check the number of ports it supports, the speed of these ports, and which virtual network the switch supports. Many switches also have basic routing functions; Routers can route much more data packets than switches, and increasingly support additional functions, such as data security.

Traditionally, the difference between a switch and a router is that the switch can only forward packets according to the second layer MAC address, while the router can route packets according to the third layer address such as IP. In practice, this means that switches connect a single LAN together, while routers connect multiple LANs, multiple physical locations, and/or provide connectivity to the Internet. That has changed.

In modern network environment, the difference between switches and routers depends largely on the main purpose of the equipment. At present, advanced switches support virtual networks and can route packets between different virtual and physical LANs. This means that today's switches can route packets based on Layer 2 and Layer 3 addresses, just like routers.

What are the advantages of switch deployment?

Switches allow networks to scale securely. Larger switches have size, security programming, speed, and routing specifications, and can manage up to 1 million MAC addresses. When combined into a network structure, the entire campus can be connected to a single network, as can large data centers. They measure computing power not by the number of servers included, but by the floor area.

Today's advanced switches support EVPN-VXLAN and other functions, enabling these large-scale campus and data center networks to operate normally. Combined with routers and firewalls, they can integrate artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation functions with cloud based management, making it easy to manage even networks running at extreme scales.

What are the main functions of the network switch?

Switches have three main tasks. They learn MAC addresses, forward packets, and protect these packets. The switch learns and stores MAC addresses in a so-called Content Addressable Memory (CAM) table, which is a LUT. Some switches can forward data over the three-layer network through IP address parameters. Finally, they keep the security of data packets by embedding vpn, firewall and enhanced encryption in programming.

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