Chapter 1 Overview - Cisco Catalyst 3550 series Software Configuration Manual

Features
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See the
software, and browser requirements and for the cluster hardware and software requirements, refer
to the release notes.
Performance
• Autosensing of port speed and autonegotiation of duplex mode on all switch ports for optimizing
bandwidth
• IEEE 802.3X flow control on all Ethernet ports
• EtherChannel for enhanced fault tolerance and for providing up to 8 Gbps (Gigabit EtherChannel)
or 800 Mbps (Fast EtherChannel) full duplex of bandwidth between switches, routers, and servers
• Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP) and Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) for automatic
creation of EtherChannel links
• Per-port storm control for preventing broadcast, multicast, and unicast storms
• Port blocking on forwarding unknown unicast and multicast traffic
• Cisco Group Management Protocol (CGMP) server support and Internet Group Management
Protocol (IGMP) snooping for IGMP versions 1, 2, and 3:
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• IGMP report suppression for sending only one IGMP report per multicast router query to the
multicast devices (supported only for IGMPv1 or IGMPv2 queries)
• Multicast VLAN registration (MVR) to continuously send multicast streams in a multicast VLAN
while isolating the streams from subscriber VLANs for bandwidth and security reasons
• IGMP filtering for controlling the set of multicast groups to which hosts on a switch port can belong
• IGMP throttling for configuring the action when the maximum number of entries is in the IGMP
forwarding table
• System Database Management (SDM) templates for allocating system resources to maximize
support for user-selected features
• Web Cache Communication Protocol (WCCP) for redirecting traffic to local cache engines, for
enabling content requests to be fulfilled locally, and for localizing web-traffic patterns in the
network (requires the enhanced multilayer software image)
Manageability
• Cisco Intelligence Engine 2100 (IE2100) Series Cisco Networking Services (CNS) embedded
agents for automating switch management, configuration storage and delivery.
• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for automating configuration of switch information
(such as IP address, default gateway, host name, and Domain Name System [DNS] and Trivial File
Transfer Protocol [TFTP] server names)
DHCP server for automatic assignment of IP addresses and other DHCP options to IP hosts
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• DHCP relay agent information (option 82) for subscriber identification and IP address management
Catalyst 3550 Multilayer Switch Software Configuration Guide
1-2
Automatic discovery of candidate switches and creation of clusters of up to 16 switches that can
be managed through a single IP address.
Extended discovery of cluster candidates that are not directly connected to the command switch.
"Advantages of Using CMS and Clustering Switches" section on page
(For CGMP devices) CGMP for limiting multicast traffic to specified end stations and reducing
overall network traffic
(For IGMP devices) IGMP snooping for limiting flooding of multicast traffic
Chapter 1 Overview
1-8. For the CMS,
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