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Cisco Switching
The L2 switch does switching only, It maintains a MAC address table so that it can remember which ports have which MAC address associated.
But the L3 switch means that it has an identity from the L3 layer. This means that a L3 switch is capable of having IP addresses and doing routing.
For intra-VLAN communication, it uses the MAC address table. For extra-VLAN communication, it uses the IP routing table.
Layer 2 Switches are manageable switch it sends the packets to the destination of MAC address.
Layer 3 has also Manageable Switch but it has unique features like Routing & Switching and It sends the packet to the destination of IP address.
Traditional switching operates at layer 2 of the OSI model, where packets are sent to a specific switch port based on destination MAC addresses. Routing operates at layer 3
A L2 switch does switching only. This means that it uses MAC addresses to switch the packets from a port to the destination port (and only the destination port). It therefore maintains a MAC address table so that it can remember which ports have which MAC address associated.
A L3 switch also does switching exactly like a L2 switch. The L3 means that it has an identity from the L3 layer. Practically this means that a L3 switch is capable of having IP addresses and doing routing. For intra-VLAN communication, it uses the MAC address table. For extra-VLAN communication, it uses the IP routing table.
Layer 2 switch support only Layer 2 protocols but Layer 3 support bothe Layer 2 and Layer3 protocols ( Routing ans Switching).
layer 2 switches can do only swithing
on layer 3 switches we have the fecility to do both switching and routing
layer3 switching depend on IP address, two broadcast domain or more.
layer2 switching depend on MAC address, one broadcast domain.
Layer 3=Routing + switching, Layer 2=Switching
layer 2 switch only uses mac address of switch in its mac table to switch the packet. routing not possible with layer 2 switch. layer3 switch has got both routing & switching function done in specalised hardware. hence supports routing as additonal with switching
L3 this is the TCP/IP layer were we can find the "inteligent device" liked routers and these uses IP addreses to connect to the other networks. This is were the Broadcast domain takes place.
L2 this is TCP/IP layer were we can find the Switches and Hubs and Bridges,these are less inteligent devices.this is were the collision domain occurs.
L2 have info Of MAC addresses. its common in local area network to discover MAC addreses of the other devices. L3 has IP addresses so it can get to another local area network or to the server provider to get the required info
