Junos 2Enterprise

Layer SwitchingSwitching

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Layer 2 Switching

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Shared LANs
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On a shared Ethernet LAN all devices share and communicate through a common medium. All
devices participating on a shared medium are part of the same collision domain.
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Ethernet uses the carrier-sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) protocol to avoid
and manage frame collisions. The sample topology on the slide shows a series of nodes connected
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through a hub using a copper-based physical medium. This type of implementation only allows a
single stream of data at a time. All nodes participating in this shared Ethernet LAN listen to verify
that the line is idle before transmitting. If the line is idle, the nodes begin transmitting data frames. If
multiple nodes listen and detect that the line is idle and then begin transmitting data frames
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simultaneously, a collision occurs. When collisions occur a JAM signal is sent by the transmitting
devices so all devices on the segment know a collision has occurred and that the line is in use. When
node receive the JAM signal, they stop transmitting immediately and wait for a period of time before
trying to send traffic. If the nodes continue to detect collisions, they progressively increase the time
between retransmissions in an attempt to find a time when no other data is being transmitted on the
LAN. The node uses a backoff algorithm to calculate the increasing retransmission time intervals.
When a node does successfully transmit traffic, that traffic is replicated out all ports on the hub and
is seen by all other nodes on the shared Ethernet segment. This traffic-flooding approach, coupled
with collisions, consumes network resources and can pose security risks.
Continued on next page.

Chapter 2–2 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching
Shared LANs (contd.)
Ethernet LANs were originally implemented for small, simple networks. Over time, LANs have
become larger and more complex. As an Ethernet LAN grows, the likelihood of collisions on that LAN
also grows. As more users are added to a shared Ethernet segment, each participating node
receives an increase of traffic from all other participating nodes for which it is not the actual
destination. This unwanted consumption of network resources along with an increase of collisions
inevitably decreases the overall efficiency on the LAN.

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www.juniper.net Chapter 2–3

Layer 2 Switching

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Switched LANs
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Although similarities exist between shared and switched LANs, switched LANs do not have the same
issues found in shared LANs and highlighted on the previous slide. Switched LANs reduce the
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likelihood of collisions by breaking a single collision domain into multiple smaller collision domains.
As shown in the sample diagram, switched LANs use switches rather than hubs. A collision domain in
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a switched LAN consists of the physical segment between a node and its connected switch port.
Using a switch increases network performance and minimizes some types of security risks by only
forwarding traffic to its intended destination rather than always flooding traffic to all connected
devices. Switches build and maintain a forwarding table, also known as a bridge table, to make
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forwarding decisions. We discuss the mechanisms switches use to build and maintain a bridge table
on subsequent pages.

Chapter 2–4 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching

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How Does Bridging Work?

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Defined in the IEEE 802.1D-2004 standard, bridging addresses some of the inherent problems of
large shared Ethernet LANs. Bridging uses microsegmentation to divide a single collision domain into
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multiple, smaller bridged collision domains. Reducing the size of a collision domain effectively
reduces the likelihood that collisions will occur. This approach also enhances performance by
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allowing multiple streams of data to flow through the switch within a common LAN or broadcast
domain.
Bridging allows a mixed collection of interface types and speeds to be logically grouped within the
same bridged LAN. The ability to logically group dissimilar interfaces in a bridged LAN environment
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provides design flexibility not found in a shared Ethernet LAN environment.

Bridging builds and maintains a forwarding table, known as a bridge table, for all destinations within
the bridged LAN. The bridge table is based on the source MAC address for all devices participating in
the bridged LAN. The bridge table is used to aid in intelligent forwarding decisions. This approach
reduces unnecessary traffic on the LAN. As shown on the slide, several mechanisms contribute to
the bridging process. We cover the listed bridging mechanisms in detail on subsequent slides.

www.juniper.net Chapter 2–5

Layer 2 Switching

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Learning
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When a switch is first connected to an Ethernet LAN, it has no information about the devices
connected to the network. Learning is a process the switch uses to obtain the MAC addresses of
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nodes on the network. The switch stores all learned MAC address in the bridge table. To learn MAC
addresses, the switch examines the Ethernet header information of all received frames from the
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LAN, looking for source MAC addresses of sending nodes. The switch places learned MAC addresses
into its bridge table, along with two other pieces of information—the interface (or port) on which the
traffic was received and the time when the MAC address was learned. The port information is used
to forward traffic to its intended destination (forwarding mechanism) while the timestamp
information is used to keep the bridge table up-to-date (aging mechanism). We discuss the
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forwarding and aging mechanisms in detail on subsequent pages in this section.

Note that MAC learning can be disabled on individual interfaces on EX Series switches. The
command used to disable MAC learning follows:
{master:0}[edit]
user@Switch# set ethernet-switching-options interfaces ge-0/0/0.0 no?
Possible completions:
no-mac-learning Disable mac learning for this interface

Chapter 2–6 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching

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Forwarding: Part 1
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The forwarding mechanism is used by the switch to deliver traffic, passing it from an incoming
interface to an outgoing interface that leads to (or toward) the destination. To forward frames, the
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switch consults the bridge table to see whether the table contains the MAC address corresponding to
the frames’ destination. If the bridge table contains an entry for the desired destination address, the
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switch sends the traffic out the interface associated with the MAC address. The switch also consults
the bridge table in the same way when transmitting frames that originate on devices connected
directly to the switch. If the switch does not have a MAC entry in its bridge table, it floods the frame
out all other interfaces belonging to the same broadcast domain (VLAN) as the interface on which
the frame was received. The frame is not sent back out the ingress interface.
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www.juniper.net Chapter 2–7

Layer 2 Switching

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Forwarding: Part 2
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To forward frames, the switch consults the bridge table to see whether the table contains the MAC
address corresponding to the frames’ destination. The bridge table is organized by VLAN to ensure
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Layer 2 traffic is only forwarded out switch ports belonging to the same broadcast domain (VLAN) as
the interface on which the frame was received.
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Chapter 2–8 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching

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Flooding
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Flooding is a transparent mechanism used to deliver packets to unknown MAC addresses. If the
bridging table has no entry for a particular destination MAC address or if the packet received is a
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broadcast or multicast packet, the switch floods the traffic out all interfaces except the interface on
which it was received. (If traffic originates on the switch, the switch floods that traffic out all
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interfaces.) When an unknown destination responds to traffic that has been flooded through a
switch, the switch learns the MAC address of that node and updates its bridge table with the source
MAC address and ingress port.
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www.juniper.net Chapter 2–9

Layer 2 Switching

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Filtering
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The filtering mechanism is used to limit traffic to its associated segment or switch port. As the
number of entries in the bridge table grows, the switch pieces together an increasingly complete
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picture of the individual network segments—the picture clarifies which switch ports are used to
forward traffic to a specific node. The switch uses this information to filter traffic.
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The slide illustrates how a switch filters traffic. In this example the device associated with User B
sends traffic destined to the device associated with User C (MAC address 00:26:88:02:74:88).
Because the destination MAC address 00:26:88:02:74:88 is also associated with ge-0/0/7, the
switch filters or discards the traffic.
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Chapter 2–10 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching

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Aging
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Finally, the switch uses aging to ensure that only active MAC address entries are in the bridge table.
For each MAC address in the bridge table, the switch records a timestamp of when the information
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about the network node was learned. Each time the switch detects traffic from a MAC address, it
updates the timestamp. A timer on the switch periodically checks the timestamp; if the timestamp is
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older than a user-configured value, the switch removes the node’s MAC address from the bridge
table. The default aging timer interval is 300 seconds and can be configured for all VLANs or on a
per-VLAN basis as shown here:
{master:0}[edit]
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user@switch# set ethernet-switching-options mac-table-aging-time ?

Possible completions:
<mac-table-aging-time> MAC aging time (60..1000000 seconds)

{master:0}[edit]
user@switch# set vlans vlan-name mac-table-aging-time ?
Possible completions:
<mac-table-aging-time> MAC aging time (60..1000000 seconds)

www.juniper.net Chapter 2–11

Layer 2 Switching

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Think About It
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This slide is designed to get you to think about the recently described concepts and mechanisms.
This slide illustrates a network topology where shared and switched LANs are merged. When User B
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sends traffic, the hub to which User B is connected floods the traffic out all ports. Based on this
knowledge we know that the traffic will be received by User D and User C even though the traffic is
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intended for User D.

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Chapter 2–12 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching

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Multiple Layers
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Switched networks are often hierarchical and consist of multiple layers. The diagram on the slide
illustrates the typical layers, which include access, aggregation (or distribution), and core. Each of
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these layers performs unique responsibilities. We cover the functions of each layer on a subsequent
slide in this section.
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Hierarchical networks are designed in a modular fashion. This inherent modularity facilitates change
and makes this design option quite scalable. When working with a hierarchical network, the
individual elements can be replicated as the network grows. The cost and complexity of network
changes is generally confined to a specific portion (or layer) of the network rather than to the entire
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network.
Because functions are mapped to individual layers, faults relating to a specific function can be
isolated to that function’s corresponding layer. The ability to isolate faults to a specific layer can
greatly simplify troubleshooting efforts.

www.juniper.net Chapter 2–13

Layer 2 Switching

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Functions of Layers: Part 1

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When designing a hierarchical switched network, individual layers are defined and represent specific
functions found within a network. It is often mistakenly thought that the access, aggregation (or
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distribution), and core layers must exist in clear and distinct physical devices, but this is not a
requirement, nor does it make sense in some cases. The layers are defined to aid successful
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network design and to represent functionality that exists in many networks.

The slide highlights the access, aggregation, and core layers and provides a brief description of the
functions commonly implemented in those layers. If CoS is used in a network, it should be
incorporated consistently in all three layers.
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Chapter 2–14 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching

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Functions of Layers: Part 2

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The implementation of the three layers can be in distinct switches, can be combined in a single
switch, or can be omitted altogether. The manner in which the layers are implemented should always
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depend on the network requirements and the design objectives.

As shown on the slide, you can effectively combine multiple switches (and their respective roles) into
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a single switch. You can use a physical chassis with multiple linecards, such as the EX8200 Series
switches, or you can combine multiple EX Series switches to form a Virtual Chassis system to achieve
the same basic functionality.
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www.juniper.net Chapter 2–15

Layer 2 Switching

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Comparing Environments
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This slide illustrates some points of comparisons between branch and data center environments. As
shown on the slide, branch environments typically do not have the three distinct hierarchical layers
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while data center (and many campus) environments do. In many branch environments, the core and
aggregation layers are combined and the related functions are performed on the same physical
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device.
You can see that the types of devices found within the different environments can vary. In a branch
or campus environment you will typically see a wide range of devices connected to the access layer
such as end-user PCs, VoIP phones, printers, and wireless access points. In a data center
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environment, you will typically only see servers.

You can also see that the types of connections used within the different environments can vary. You
will often use fiber connections between the access and aggregation or collapsed core layers to
account for distance between the switches. Also, depending on your implementation, it might make
sense to increase the throughput capacity of the links connecting the access and aggregation or
collapsed core layers. You can increase the capacity by using a high-speed link, such as a 10 GbE
interface, or by combining multiple lower-speed links in a link aggregation group (LAG).
Our intent is to show some common design considerations. Your environment and design
implementation may vary from that shown on the slide.

Chapter 2–16 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching

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Enterprise Devices and Layer 2 Switching

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This slide illustrates the enterprise platform families that run the Junos OS and that support Layer 2
switching operations. Note that the J Series and branch SRX Series do not support all of the Layer 2
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switching features supported on the EX Series. The primary function of J Series and branch SRX
Series is security while the primary function of the EX Series is switching. For this reason, this
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material focuses on the EX Series switches. For Layer 2 switching support details for J Series and
branch SRX Series, refer to the technical publications at http://www.juniper.net/techpubs/.
A brief description of the EX Series switches that run the Junos OS follows:
• The EX2200 line of fixed-configuration switches are ideal for access-layer deployments
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in branch and remote offices, as well as campus networks. Four platform configurations
are available offering 24 and 48 10/100/1000BASE-T ports with or without Power over
Ethernet (PoE).
• The EX3200 line of fixed-configuration switches are ideal for access-layer deployments
in branch and remote offices, as well as campus networks. Four platform configurations
are available offering 24 and 48 10/100/1000BASE-T ports with either full or partial
Power over Ethernet (PoE).
Continued on next page.

www.juniper.net Chapter 2–17

Layer 2 Switching
Enterprise Devices and Layer 2 Switching (contd.)
• The EX4200 line of Ethernet switches with Virtual Chassis technology are ideal for data
center, campus and branch office environments. Eight platform configurations are
available offering 24 and 48 10/100/1000BASE-T ports with either full or partial Power
over Ethernet (PoE) or 24 100/1000 BASE-X ports with no PoE.
• The EX4500 line of Ethernet switches are ideal for high-density 10 gigabit per second
(Gbps) data center top-of-rack as well as data center, campus, and service provider
aggregation deployments.
• The EX8200 line of Ethernet switches are ideal for large campus and data center
environments. Two chassis options exist for the EX8200 Series; an eight-slot option
(EX8208) as well as a 16-slot option (EX8216). The EX8208 switch features eight
dedicated line-card slots that can accommodate a variety of Ethernet interfaces.

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Options include a 48-port 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ-45 unshielded twisted pair (UTP)
line card, a 48-port 100BASE-FX/1000BASE-X SFP fiber line card, and an eight-port
10GBASE-X SFP+ fiber line card. Fully configured, a single EX8208 chassis can support
up to 384 Gigabit Ethernet or 64 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports at wire speed, delivering one

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of the industry’s highest line-rate 10-Gigabit Ethernet port densities. The EX8216 switch
can accommodate any combination of EX8200 line Ethernet line cards. Fully
configured, a single EX8216 chassis can support up to 768 Gigabit Ethernet or 128

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10-Gigabit Ethernet ports at wire speed for all packet sizes, delivering one of the
highest line-rate 10-Gigabit Ethernet port densities in the industry. To maximize network
investments, the EX8216 leverages the same EX8200 wire-speed line cards and power

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supplies used by the eight-slot Juniper Networks EX8208 Ethernet Switch, ensuring
consistent performance across the entire product family.
Support of the various Layer 2 switching features varies between platforms. For support information
or more details for a specific EX Series platform, refer to the technical publications or the
product-specific datasheets and literature found at: http://www.juniper.net/techpubs/ and
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http://www.juniper.net/us/en/products-services/switching/ex-series/ respectively.
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Chapter 2–18 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching

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EX Series Placement
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This slide illustrates the positioning of the various EX Series switches in data center, campus, and
branch office environments.
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www.juniper.net Chapter 2–19

Layer 2 Switching

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Control and Forwarding Functions

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EX Series switches, along with all other Junos-based devices, have a common design that separates
the control and forwarding planes. To this end, all EX Series switches have two major components:
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• The Routing Engine (RE): The RE is the brains of the platform; it is responsible for
performing protocol updates and system management. The RE runs various protocol
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and management software processes that reside inside a protected memory

environment. The RE maintains the routing tables, bridging table and primary
forwarding table and is connected to the PFE through an internal link.
• The Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE): The PFE is responsible for forwarding transit
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frames, packets, or both through the switch. The PFE is implemented using ASICs on
the EX Series platforms. Because this architecture separates control operations—such
as protocol updates and system management—from frame and packet forwarding, the
switch can deliver superior performance and highly reliable deterministic operation.
Note that the number of PFEs in each EX Series switch varies. Refer to the
product-specific documentation for hardware architecture details.
Continued on next page.

Chapter 2–20 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching
Control and Forwarding Functions (contd.)
The PFE receives the Layer 2 and 3 forwarding table from the RE by means of an internal link.
Forwarding table updates are a high priority for the Junos OS kernel and are performed
incrementally. The internal link that connects the RE and PFE is rate-limited to protect the RE from
DoS attacks. The rate-limiting settings for this link are hard-coded and cannot be changed.
Because the RE provides the intelligence side of the equation, the PFE can simply do what it is told to
do—that is, it forwards frames, packets, or both with a high degree of stability and deterministic
performance.

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www.juniper.net Chapter 2–21

Layer 2 Switching

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Frame Processing: Unknown Source MAC Address

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When frames enter a switch port, they are processed by the ingress PFE associated with that port.
The ingress PFE determines how transit frames are processed and which lookup table is used when
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determining next-hop information. The PFE performs a lookup on the source and destination MAC
address. In the example illustrated on the slide, the source MAC address does not exist in the current
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bridging table.
In this example, the frame enters an ingress port and PFE. The ingress PFE performs a MAC address
lookup and determines that the source MAC is unknown. The ingress PFE then sends the frame's
header information to the RE through the internal link. The RE then either adds or discards the newly
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learned MAC address based on the configuration. If MAC limiting is enabled and a violation occurs,
the MAC address is discarded or in other words is not added to the bridge table. If the configuration
allows the newly learned MAC address to be added to the bridge table, the RE updates the bridge
table with the relevant information and sends the update to all PFEs at which point the forwarding
table on each PFE is updated accordingly.

Chapter 2–22 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching

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Frame Processing: Known Destination MAC Address

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In the example illustrated on the slide, the destination MAC address exists in the bridge table. If the
egress port belongs to the ingress PFE, the frame is switched locally. If the egress port belongs to a
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PFE other than the ingress PFE (as shown in the example on the slide), the frame is forwarded on
through the switch fabric to the egress PFE where the egress switch port resides. This PFE might be
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a different PFE on the same switch or a remote PFE belonging to a separate member switch within
the same Virtual Chassis system.
As illustrated on the previous slide, if the source MAC address does not exist in the bridge table, the
PFE extracts and sends the header to the RE to update the bridge table, which is part of the MAC
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learning process.

www.juniper.net Chapter 2–23

Layer 2 Switching

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Frame Processing: Unknown Destination MAC Address

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When the ingress PFE performs a lookup on the destination MAC address and no entry exists in the
bridge table, the frame is flooded out all ports in the same broadcast domain. The frame is also
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flooded to other PFEs. However, the frame is not flooded out the port on which it was received. Once
the switch sees return traffic from this MAC address, it adds the address to the bridge table. Frames
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with broadcast and multicast destination MAC addresses are also flooded in a similar fashion.
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Chapter 2–24 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching

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Frame Processing: Routed Packet

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When the PFE detects its own address as the destination MAC address, a Layer 3 lookup is
performed. If the destination IP address belongs to the switch, the packet is forwarded to the RE. If
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the destination IP address does not belong to the switch but a Layer 3 forwarding table entry exists
on the ingress PFE, the packet is forwarded to the egress PFE. If the destination IP address is not the
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switch and no Layer 3 forwarding table entry exists, the packet is discarded.
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www.juniper.net Chapter 2–25

Layer 2 Switching

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Case Study: Topology and Objectives

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The slide displays the topology and objectives for our case study.
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Chapter 2–26 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching

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Enabling Basic Layer 2 Functionality

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The Ethernet switching process (eswd) is enabled by default on EX Series switches:

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{master:0}
user@switch-1> show system processes | match "pid|eswd"
PID TT STAT TIME COMMAND
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823 ?? S 0:00.25 /usr/sbin/eswd -N

In addition to the Ethernet switching process, you must enable interfaces for Layer 2 operations.
The slide illustrates Layer 2 interface configuration examples. You can define each interface
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individually, as shown on the left side of the slide, or you can define a range of interfaces that share
common configuration parameters, as shown on the right side of the slide. If you define an interface
range, you can specify individual interfaces belonging to the interface range using the member
option or, if the member interfaces are sequentially ordered, you can specify an interfaces range in
the <start-interface> to <end-interface> format using the member-range option.
Continued on next page.

www.juniper.net Chapter 2–27

Layer 2 Switching
Enabling Basic Layer 2 Functionality (contd.)
You can also combine the two options within the same interface range as shown in the following
example:
{master:0}[edit interfaces]
user@switch-1# show
interface-range range-1 {
member ge-0/0/10;
member-range ge-0/0/6 to ge-0/0/8;
unit 0 {
family ethernet-switching;
}
}

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Regardless of the configuration method you use, you must specify family
ethernet-switching for interfaces operating in Layer 2 mode. All other interface configuration
options are optional. Note that the factory-default configuration file for EX Series switches with
built-in interfaces (excludes the EX8200 devices), all interfaces are configured for Layer 2

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Chapter 2–28 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching

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Verifying Interface State: Part 1

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The slide shows the expected status and details for Layer 2 interfaces. Note that the highlighted
command is helpful in obtaining high-level status and protocol information. For usage statistics,
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errors, and detailed information, such as default interface settings, you should use the show
interfaces extensive command. We illustrate the show interfaces extensive
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command on the next slide.

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www.juniper.net Chapter 2–29

Layer 2 Switching

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Verifying Interface State: Part 2

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This slide illustrates the show interfaces extensive command which is helpful for
determining detailed information such as the default interface settings, error conditions, and usage
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statistics.
In this example, you can see that the default Speed and Duplex settings are set to Auto.
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Generally, it is best to leave these default settings but some situations might exist where you must
alter some settings. For example, in rare situations interface conflicts might occur, typically when
interoperating with other vendors, which prohibits proper interface operation. In these cases, you
might need to hard-code the speed and duplex settings on both sides to match.
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Continued on next page.

Chapter 2–30 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching
Verifying Interface State: Part 2 (contd.)
The following example shows the interface configuration where auto-negotiation is disabled and the
speed and duplex settings are hard-coded to 1000 mbps and full-duplex respectively:
{master:0}
user@switch-1> show configuration interfaces ge-0/0/6
ether-options {
no-auto-negotiation;
link-mode full-duplex;
speed {
1g;
}
}

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unit 0 {
family ethernet-switching;
}

{master:0}

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user@switch-1> show interfaces extensive ge-0/0/6
Physical interface: ge-0/0/6, Enabled, Physical link is Up

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Interface index: 135, SNMP ifIndex: 124, Generation: 138
Link-level type: Ethernet, MTU: 1514, Speed: 1000mbps, Duplex: Full-Duplex,
BPDU Error: None, MAC-REWRITE Error: None, Loopback: Disabled,
Source filtering: Disabled, Flow control: Enabled, Auto-negotiation: Disabled,
...
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www.juniper.net Chapter 2–31

Layer 2 Switching

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Viewing Bridge Table Entries

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Use the show ethernet-switching table command to view the contents of the bridge table.
This command lists learned MAC addresses along with the corresponding VLAN, age, and interface.
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All entries are organized based on their associated VLAN. The sample output on the slide also
highlights each VLAN’s flood entry, which is associated with all interfaces for the VLAN. This entry is
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used to flood traffic, destined to an unknown destination, through all interfaces that belong to the
same VLAN.
Continued on next page.
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Chapter 2–32 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching
Viewing Bridge Table Entries (contd.)
You can add the extensive option to view additional details:
{master:0}
user@switch-1> show ethernet-switching table extensive
Ethernet-switching table: 4 entries, 3 learned

VLAN: default, Tag: 0, MAC: *, Interface: All-members

Interfaces:
ge-0/0/6.0, ge-0/0/7.0, ge-0/0/8.0
Type: Flood
Nexthop index: 1304

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VLAN: default, Tag: 0, MAC: 00:26:88:02:74:86, Interface: ge-0/0/6.0
Type: Learn, Age: 1:16, Learned: 1:30
Nexthop index: 1303

VLAN: default, Tag: 0, MAC: 00:26:88:02:74:87, Interface: ge-0/0/7.0

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Type: Learn, Age: 0, Learned: 1:30
Nexthop index: 1305

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VLAN: default, Tag: 0, MAC: 00:26:88:02:74:88, Interface: ge-0/0/8.0
Type: Learn, Age: 1:00, Learned: 1:25
Nexthop index: 1306

{master:0}
ethernet-switching command: SE
To view the Layer 2 forwarding table, issue the show route forwarding-table family

user@switch-1> show route forwarding-table family ethernet-switching

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Routing table: default.ethernet-switching
ETHERNET-SWITCHING:
Destination Type RtRef Next hop Type Index NhRef Netif
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default perm 0 dscd 66 1

2, * user 0 comp 1304 2
2, * intf 0 rslv 1302 1
2, 00:26:88:02:74:86 user 0 ucst 1303 3 ge-0/0/6.0
2, 00:26:88:02:74:87 user 0 ucst 1305 3 ge-0/0/7.0
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2, 00:26:88:02:74:88 user 0 ucst 1306 3 ge-0/0/8.0

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www.juniper.net Chapter 2–33

Layer 2 Switching

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Clearing Bridge Table Entries

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Use the clear ethernet-switching table command to clear all entries within the MAC
address table. Optionally, you can clear individual MAC entries or all MAC entries associated with a
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specific VLAN using the available options shown in the following output:
{master:0}
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user@switch-1> clear ethernet-switching table ?

Possible completions:
<[Enter]> Execute this command
interface Name of interface
IN

mac MAC address

management-vlan Management VLAN
vlan Name of VLAN
| Pipe through a command

Chapter 2–34 www.juniper.net

 Layer 2 Switching

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Defining Static Bridge Table Entries

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Normally, MAC addresses are learned and added to the bridge table dynamically when traffic enters
an interface. You can add static MAC addresses to the MAC address table if desired. The slide
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illustrates the configuration used to statically define bridge table entries as well as the expected
output for statically defined bridge table entries.
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www.juniper.net Chapter 2–35

Layer 2 Switching

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Chapter 2–36 www.juniper.net