Something that has to do with the internet, I get this part. But what are those layers? Are they physical?
I also heard the term: layer 2 switch. What is that, is there a difference between this and a normal switch?
What can be achieved using the OSI model?
In: Engineering
Other people have expanded on the OSI 7 layer model, but i dont see an answer about the layer 2 switch part, so i will expand on that:
a layer 2 swtich is the “normal” type of switch. the name refers to the way in which it routes incoming packets of data: by using the layer 2 (data link) addresses. This means it looks at the MAC address of the destination devices physical network card, and then tries to send it that way. if it doesnt know where a device is, if “floods” it out of every other port in order to find it, then remembers which way it is when the response comes back though the device.
This works well with a smaller number of directly or nearly- directly connected devices, and is pretty quick in terms of of routing the message, but if you have a big network of devices with lots of devices, it can get unmanageable or slow, or you end up with a switching loop where several switches can send traffic in a endless loop between themselves, never reaching the destination and slowing down the network.
The best way to avoid this problem is to “break up” the network with devices that route off the IP address (layer 3), like routers, which don’t pass on these broadcast messages.
However, their is such a thing as a layer 3 switch, which uses the simpler switching protocols, but with the IP address instead of MAC address. these might be used in certian network configurations for various reasons
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