A true router, 2621/3640/7200, is not usually considered a L3 switch. A 6500 with an MSFC module installed can be is a L3 switch and will perform L2/L3 routing and switching.
A 6500 without the MSFC module is just a large high speed switch, capable of only L2 switching. A layer 3 switch usually routes the first packet in the flow of data and then switches the rest in the switching hardware. This is why L3 routing/switching is quite a bit faster. A traditional router will use IOS software to determine routes and the switch each packet between the interfaces in the router. Larry Letterman Cisco Systems [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of John Green Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 10:50 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Layer 3 switch ? [7:38358] Is it ok to refer to a "router" as a Layer 3 switch ? cisco 6500 was referred to as a Layer 3 switch. question: does it(6500) have routing capabilities ? ----------------------------------------------------- to connect to different vlans one needs a router. right ?? (as shown below) switchA --------ROUTER-------switchB but say some nodes connected to switchB are on the vlan of switchA. so now to connect switchA and switchB can router be ok ? ------------------------------------------------------ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - live college hoops coverage http://sports.yahoo.com/ Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=38364&t=38358 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
