General Questions
According to Hamblen and Lawson (2008), the switch in question offers the ability to transfer huge amounts of data in a short time. In their analysis, the switch could provide the initial ability of transferring more than 8Tbit/sec and later 15Tbit/sec. The switch also offers the ability of partitioning allowing different users to run separate processed while utilizing the same computational and power mechanism.
Virtualization of data centers would be realized based on the switch potential to be divided logically while offering high speed connections. It would allow sharing of resources while having logical divisions that can be run separately by different administrators in different locations.
Though VLANS can be implemented in layer 2 or 3, layer two offers a better implementation. Layer 2’s ability to learn the MAC addresses of the destination or targeted nodes automatically makes it a better selection. Selective data routing is done by this layer. It is able to directly route data to the targeted node due to its ability to identify it based on MAC addresses stored. There is need to pry each port for availability (Baliles, & Twinam, 2008).
Physical security can be implemented in this layer based on the fact that it allows for logical sub-division of the entire network in to small networks. Virtual interfaces can be used to bind firewalls based on the logical subdivisions of the network (Baliles, & Twinam, 2008). Any one on a different sub network can not access another sub network outside his/her working jurisdiction. The modularity which is introduced by this layer makes the task of security mechanisms implementation much easier. Rules can be created for each logical group based on how the resources are to be accessed; without affecting policies put in place for other different logical groups on the same network. Layer two allows membership assignment based on port assigned base. It also introduces memberships based on MAC addressed and user ID. All these forms serve to improve access security.
Physical security of the switch will prevent physical breakdown of the same. People with intent to sabotage the network or steal important information can use the same to gain access to the network and tamper with the network settings. It can result in network connectivity loss which could have adverse effects on the normal operations (Baliles, & Twinam, 2008).
References
Baliles, B & Twinam, D. (2008). “Securing physical security on the IP network.” Network
Technology. BNB media
Hamblen, M. & Lawson, S. (2008, February 4th). Cisco puts New Server storage networks on
single
storage part. Computer World...
