Layer 3 Features; Quality Of Service Features - Dell PowerConnect 54 Series User Manual

• Improved bandwidth granularity
• High bandwidth server connectivity
LAG is composed of ports with the same speed, set to full-duplex operation.
For more information, see "Defining LAG Membership" on page 327.
Link Aggregation and LACP
LACP uses peer exchanges across links to determine, on an ongoing basis, the aggregation capability of
various links, and continuously provides the maximum level of aggregation capability achievable between a
given pair of systems. LACP automatically determines, configures, binds and monitors the port binding to
aggregators within the system.
For more information, see "Defining LACP Parameters" on page 325.

Layer 3 Features

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
ARP is a TCP/IP protocol that converts IP addresses into physical addresses. ARP automatically determines
Device Next-Hop MAC addresses of systems, including directly attached end systems. Users can override
and supplement this by defining additional ARP Table entries.
For more information, see "Mapping Domain Host" on page 115.
TCP
Transport Control Protocol (TCP) connections are defined between 2 ports by an initial synchronization
exchange. TCP ports are identified by an IP address and a 16-bit port number. Octets streams are divided
into TCP packets, each carrying a sequence number.
BootP and DHCP Clients
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) enables additional setup parameters to be received from a
network server upon system startup. DHCP service is an on-going process. DHCP is an extension to BootP.
For more information on DHCP, see "Defining DHCP IP Interface Parameters" on page 109.

Quality of Service Features

Class Of Service 802.1p Support
The IEEE 802.1p signaling technique is an OSI Layer 2 standard for marking and prioritizing network traffic
at the data link/MAC sub-layer. 802.1p traffic is classified and sent to the destination. No bandwidth
reservations or limits are established or enforced. 802.1p is a spin-off of the 802.1Q (VLANs) standard.
802.1p establishes eight levels of priority, similar to the IP Precedence IP Header bit-field.
For more information, see "Configuring Quality of Service" on page 383.
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Introduction