Aten VE8950T [9/17] Choosing a network switch

4.2. Choosing a Network Switch

This section provides various general and specific recommendations for switches to use with VE8900 /

VE8950 / VE8952. However, there is no substitute for testing in real world situations. If you are in doubt

about which network switch to use, the safest approach is to select one from the list of recommended

switches below.

The Basics

In general, the network switches deployed in VE8900 / VE8950 / VE8952 installation must support the

following:

 Gigabit (or faster) Ethernet port

 Multicast forwarding or filtering

 IGMP v2 Snooping (multicast)

 Support for jumbo frames (packets) up to 9216-byte size

 IGMP Snooping

 IGMP Querier

 IGMP Snooping Fast-Leave

 High bandwidth connection between switches

Types of High Performance Switch

A high performance network switch is the means of a successful VE setup. When choosing a network

switch, first select the type:

Layer 2 or Layer 3 Switches

You will need to determine whether you need a layer 2 or a layer 3 switch for your VE network. Layer 3

switches cost more than layer 2 switches because they are more complex and handle more network

traffic. The best way to calculate which type of switch you need is to first determine if you will have a

dedicated network for the VE devices or if the VE devices will be on a network that shares throughput

with other network equipment such as computers, servers and printers. If they share the network with

other devices its best to consider a layer 3 switch and use layer 2 switches exclusively for the VE device

connections. For larger installations we recommend using Layer 3 switches.

The major differences are:

 Layer 3 Switch:

IP addresses in packets are examined and intelligent forwarding decisions are made. On a larger

network broken into subnets across long distances, a layer 3 switch becomes the best choice as they