Now we will have a quick look at Layer 3, IP Base and IP Services licensing. We reiterate again that this post is not supposed to epitomize or substitute any official Cisco product documentation. Product specifications are subject to change very quickly and therefore using this post for reference is solely at our readers’ own risk.
For many of us who have deployed Cisco switches for a long time period, we may recall the Cisco Catalyst 5500 switches having a Route Switch Module (RSM). This used to be how Layer 2 and Layer 3 were combined inside a singular chassis – in a kludgy manner. Those days of yore are now long gone. The Cisco Catalyst switches these days possess powerful incorporated Layer 3 functionalities. Layer 3 switching and routing are so closely intertwined that they trigger a plethora of interesting conversations. Here, we will focus on the Layer 3 switching abilities of the Cisco Catalyst 3560-X and Catalyst 3750-X series switches.
IP Base License: Catalyst 3560-X and 3750-X Series Switches
Dynamic routing supplies you with corporate network scalability, flexibility and resilience. IP Base is a standard enterprise services license for the Cisco 3560-X and 3750-X series switches having dynamic routing support. It possesses all the Layer 2 features included in the LAN Base licensing, plus a remarkable collection of Layer 3 functionalities like static routing, RIP, EIGRP stub, Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) stub and OSPF for Routed Access. Here EIGRP stub implies that the switch partakes in EIGRP routing as a stub and the EIGRP routes will not be extended to any downstream hardware devices connected to the switch. Also, please take note that OSPF for Routed Access is developed specially to extend Layer 3 routing functionalities to wiring closets. It provides support for only one OSPFv2 and one OSPFv3 occurrence, with a maximum allowed quantity of 200 dynamically learned paths. On the protection front, a large amount of network protection functionalities are provided by IP Base. Some examples are ACLs, Private VLANs, TrustSec SXP, and IEEE 802.1AE (also known as MACsec). A novel and stimulating protection feature is the device sensor. It is a component of the Cisco IOS software installed on a switch which gathers specific endpoint device attributes and forwards such data to the Cisco Identify Services Engine (ISE) via RADIUS accounting packets. Cisco ISE then implements the suitable policies as a component of the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) solution. In addition, some more new administration aptitudes have been supplemented to the IP Base image. A great example is Embedded Event Manager (EEM). This is a policy-based framework which permits you to tailor a script for real-time network event discovery and onboard automation. Also, Medianet support provides you the capability to troubleshoot and tailor business applications like video-based collaborations.
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