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Feature
Benefit
High-Performance IP Routing
• Cisco Express Forwarding hardware routing architecture delivers extremely high-performance IP routing.
• Basic IP unicast routing protocols (static, Routing Information Protocol Version 1 [RIPv1], and RIPv2) are
supported for small-network routing applications.
• IPv6 routing support in hardware for maximum performance. The Advanced IP Services License is
required.
• Advanced IP unicast routing protocols (Open Shortest Path First [OSPF], Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
[IGRP], Enhanced IGRP [EIGRP], and Border Gateway Protocol Version 4 [BGPv4]) are supported for load
balancing and constructing scalable LANs. The IP Services Image is required.
• Policy-based routing (PBR) allows superior control by facilitating flow redirection regardless of the routing
protocol configured. The IP Services Image is required.
• HSRP provides dynamic load balancing and failover for routed links, up to 32 HSRP links supported per
unit or stack.
• Inter-VLAN IP routing for full Layer 3 routing between 2 or more VLANs.
• Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) for IP multicast routing is supported, including PIM sparse mode
(PIM-SM), PIM dense mode (PIM-DM), and PIM sparse-dense mode. The IP Services Image is required.
• Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP) tunneling interconnects 2 multicast-enabled networks
across nonmulticast networks. The IP Services Image is required.
• Fallback bridging forwards non-IP traffic between 2 or more VLANs. The IP Services Image is required.
• Routing is possible across the stack.
• 128 switch virtual interfaces (SVIs) are recommended. Maximum of 1000 are supported (depending on the
number of routes and multicast entries). 468 routed ports are supported per stack.
Integrated Cisco IOS Software
Features for Bandwidth
Optimization
• Per-port broadcast, multicast, and unicast storm control prevents faulty end stations from degrading overall
systems performance.
• IEEE 802.1d Spanning Tree Protocol support for redundant backbone connections and loop-free networks
simplifies network configuration and improves fault tolerance.
• PVST+ allows for Layer 2 load sharing on redundant links to efficiently use the extra capacity inherent in a
redundant design.
• IEEE 802.1s Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol allows a spanning-tree instance per VLAN, for Layer 2 load
sharing on redundant links.
• Equal-cost routing facilitates Layer 3 load balancing and redundancy across the stack. The IP Services
Image is required.
• Local Proxy Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) works in conjunction with Private VLAN Edge to minimize
broadcasts and maximize available bandwidth.
• VLAN1 minimization allows VLAN1 to be disabled on any individual VLAN trunk link.
• VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) pruning limits bandwidth consumption on VTP trunks by flooding broadcast
traffic only on trunk links required to reach the destination devices.
• Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) snooping provides fast client joins and leaves of multicast
streams and limits bandwidth-intensive video traffic to only the requestors.
• Multicast VLAN Registration (MVR) continuously sends multicast streams in a multicast VLAN while
isolating the streams from subscriber VLANs for bandwidth and security reasons.
• Up to 48 EtherChannel groups are supported per stack.
Scalable Stacking
• Cisco StackWise stacking creates a 32 Gbps switch interconnection. Stacking does not require user ports.
Up to 9 units can be stacked together for a maximum of 468 10/100 ports, 468 10/100/1000 ports, 108
optical aggregation ports, nine 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports, or any mix thereof.