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Software Configuration Guide—Release 12.2(25)SG
OL-7659-03
Chapter 1 Product Overview
Management Features
• Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM)—PIM is protocol-independent because it can leverage
whichever unicast routing protocol is used to populate the unicast routing table, including EIGRP,
OSPF, BGP, or static route. PIM also uses a unicast routing table to perform the Reverse Path
Forwarding (RPF) check function instead of building a completely independent multicast routing
table.
For information on configuring multicast services, see Chapter 24, “Understanding and Configuring
IP Multicast.”
Policy-Based Routing
Traditional IP forwarding decisions are based purely on the destination IP address of the packet being
forwarded. Policy Based Routing (PBR) enables forwarding based upon other information associated
with a packet, such as the source interface, IP source address, Layer 4 ports, and so on. This feature
allows network managers more flexibility in how they configure and design their networks.
For more information on policy-based routing, see Chapter 25, “Configuring Policy-Based Routing.”
Unidirectional Link Routing
Unidirectional link routing (UDLR) provides a way to forward multicast packets over a physical
unidirectional interface (such as a satellite link of high bandwidth) to stub networks that have a back
channel.
For information on configuring unidirectional link routing, refer to the chapter “Configuring
Unidirectional Link Routing” in the Cisco IP and IP Routing Configuration Guide.
VRF-lite
VPN routing and forwarding (VRF-lite) is an extension of IP routing that provides multiple routing instances.
Along with BGP, it enables the creation of a Layer 3 VPN service by keeping separate IP routing and
forwarding tables for each VPN customer. VRF-lite uses input interfaces to distinguish routes for different
VPNs. It forms virtual packet-forwarding tables by associating one or more Layer 3 interfaces with each VRF,
allowing the creation of multiple Layer 3 VPNs on a single switch. Interfaces in a VRF could be either
physical, such as an Ethernet port, or logical, such as a VLAN switch virtual interface (SVI). However,
interfaces cannot belong to more than one VRF at any time.
For information on VRF-lite, see Chapter 26, “Configuring VRF-lite.”
Management Features
The Catalyst 4500 series switch offers network management and control through the CLI or through
alternative access methods, such as SNMP. The switch software supports these network management
features:
• Cisco Network Assistant and Embedded CiscoView, page 1-10
• Dynamic Host Control Protocol, page 1-10
• Forced 10/100 Autonegotiation, page 1-10
• Intelligent Power Management, page 1-10