SonicOS/X 7 Switching
About Switching
References to SonicOS/X indicate that the functionality is available in both SonicOS and SonicOSX.
This section describes advanced switching in SonicOS/X, which is different from managing a Dell X-Series switch from a firewall. For more information about managing X-Series switches, look for the X-Series Deployment Guide at https://www.sonicwall.com/support/technical-documentation.
SonicWall appliances can manage two different switch product lines: the X-Series extended switches and the SonicWall SWS-series switches. For details refer to the SonicOS/X System Administration Guide at https://www.sonicwall.com/support/technical-documentation.
For complete details, refer to the SonicWall Switch Getting Started Guide at https://www.sonicwall.com/support/technical-documentation.
SonicOS/X 7 Switching
SonicOS/X provides Layer 2 (data link layer) switching functionality that supports these switching features:
- VLAN Trunking – Provides the ability to trunk different VLANs between multiple switches.
- Layer 2 Network Discovery – Uses IEEE 802.1AB (LLDP) and Microsoft LLTD protocols and switch forwarding table to discover devices visible from a port.
- Link Aggregation – Provides the ability to aggregate ports for increased performance and redundancy.
- Port Mirroring – Allows you to assign a mirror port to mirror ingress, egress or bidirectional packets coming from a group of ports.
- Jumbo Frames – Supporting jumbo frames allows the SonicOS/X to process Ethernet frames with payloads ranging from 1500-9000 bytes.
Benefits of Switching
SonicOS/X provides a combined security and switching solution. Layer 2 switching features enhance the deployment and interoperability of SonicWall devices within existing Layer-2 networks.
How Switching Works
Some switching features operate on PortShield Groups and require preliminary configuration on the NETWORK | System > PortShield Groups page. Some operate on existing NETWORK | System > Interfaces configurations. For more information about configuring these related features in SonicOS/X, see:
- Configuring VLAN Trunking
- Managing L2 Discovery and LLDP/LLTDV
- Configuring Link Aggregation
- Configuring Port Mirroring
Glossary
| BDPU | Bridge Protocol Data Unit – Used in RSTP, BPDUs are special data frames used to exchange information about bridge IDs and root path costs. BPDUs are exchanged every few seconds to allow switches to keep track of network topology and start or stop port forwarding. |
| CoS | Class Of Service – Cos (IEEE 802.1p) defines eight different classes of service that are indicated in a 3-bit user_priority field in an IEEE 802.1Q header added to an Ethernet frame when using tagged frames on an 802.1 network. |
| DSCP | Differentiated Services Code Point – Also known as DiffServ, DSCP is a networking architecture that defines a simple, coarse-grained, class-based mechanism for classifying and managing network traffic and providing Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees on IP networks. RFC 2475, published in 1998 by the IETF, defines DSCP. DSCP operates by marking an 8-bit field in the IP packet header. |
| IETF | Internet Engineering Task Force – The IETF is an open standards organization that develops and promotes Internet standards. |
| L2 | OSI Layer 2 (Ethernet) – Layer 2 of the seven layer OSI model is the Data Link Layer, on which the Ethernet protocol runs. Layer 2 is used to transfer data among network entities. |
| LACP | Link Aggregation Control Protocol – LACP is an IEEE specification that provides a way to combine multiple physical ports together to form a single logical channel. LACP allows load balancing by the connected devices. |
| LLDP |
Link Layer Discovery Protocol (IEEE 802.1AB) – LLDP is a Layer 2 protocol used by network devices to communicate their identity, capabilities, and interconnections. This information is stored in a MIB database on each host, which can be queried with SNMP to determine the network topology. The information includes system name, port name, VLAN name, IP address, system capabilities (switching, routing), MAC address, link aggregation, and more. |
| LLTD | Link Layer Topology Discovery (Microsoft Standard) – LLTD is a Microsoft proprietary protocol with functionality similar to LLDP. It operates on wired or wireless networks (Ethernet 802.3 or wireless 802.11). |
| PDU | Protocol Data Unit – In the context of the Switching feature, the Layer 2 PDU is the frame. It contains the link layer header followed by the packet. |
| RSTP | Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (IEEE 802.1D-2004) – RSTP was defined in 1998 as an improvement to Spanning Tree Protocol. It provides faster spanning tree convergence after a topology change. |
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