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What are all the features generally expected of a layer 2 switch?

I know some of the features such as low latency, low cost, high speed , etc. But, what others might I have missed?

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This question is very broad. Which switch in particular? What features are you interested in? What are your networking needs? Right now this question sounds more like a homework assignment than a real query. – goblinbox May 23 '11 at 6:12
@goblinbox, I think you'll find that a "layer 2 switch" is standard terminology, so this will not be related to any specific device and probably isn't all that broad either. It does look a bit homeworkesque to my eyes, but there's nothing strictly wrong with that. – DMA57361♦ May 23 '11 at 14:49
reliability!!!! – Linker3000 May 23 '11 at 16:08
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closed as not a real question by Mokubai, slhck, Spiff, Linker3000, Kyle May 23 '11 at 16:21

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

1 Answer

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Layer 2 are used to switch traffic at the second layer. They switch the traffic based on the mac addresses it came from. Some of them can work with VLAN`s. The "features" that you outlined are not considered features when you are talking about a switch. First they are either managed or unmanaged switches, second if they are managed they might support various level 2 switching technologies. You could even buy a layer 3 switch, but they do cost a lot. For more info check the Cisco site and maybe Junipers too. Also I hear that D-Link make some nice switches.

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