Chapter 12. Layer 2 Protocol Essentials

This chapter covers the following topics:

• The fundamentals of the Ethernet technology in switched environments: the frame format (Ethernet v2 and 802.3), the address format, and the frame size

• Characteristics and differences of Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and 10-Gigabit Ethernet

• Ethernet switching: the fundamentals of transparent bridges and the forwarding table

• How to virtualize LAN Ethernet segments with VLANs

• The most commonly used Layer 2 protocols, with special focus on spanning tree (port roles and states, bridge priority, logical ports)

• The most recent spanning-tree improvements—specifically, 802.1w and 802.1s

• How to choose the most appropriate spanning-tree algorithm

The design ...

Get Data Center Fundamentals now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.