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Catalyst 2960 Switch Software Configuration Guide
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Chapter 1 Overview
Features
VLAN Features
• Support for up to 255 VLANs for assigning users to VLANs associated with appropriate network
resources, traffic patterns, and bandwidth
• Support for VLAN IDs in the 1 to 4094 range as allowed by the IEEE 802.1Q standard
• VLAN Query Protocol (VQP) for dynamic VLAN membership
• IEEE 802.1Q trunking encapsulation on all ports for network moves, adds, and changes;
management and control of broadcast and multicast traffic; and network security by establishing
VLAN groups for high-security users and network resources
• Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP) for negotiating trunking on a link between two devices and for
negotiating the type of trunking encapsulation (IEEE 802.1Q) to be used
• VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) and VTP pruning for reducing network traffic by restricting
flooded traffic to links destined for stations receiving the traffic
• Voice VLAN for creating subnets for voice traffic from Cisco IP Phones
• VLAN1 minimization for reducing the risk of spanning-tree loops or storms by allowing VLAN 1
to be disabled on any individual VLAN trunk link. With this feature enabled, no user traffic is sent
or received on the trunk. The switch CPU continues to send and receive control protocol frames.
Security Features
• Password-protected access (read-only and read-write access) to management interfaces (device
manager, Network Assistant, CLI) for protection against unauthorized configuration changes
• Multilevel security for a choice of security level, notification, and resulting actions
• Static MAC addressing for ensuring security
• Protected port option for restricting the forwarding of traffic to designated ports on the same switch
• Port security option for limiting and identifying MAC addresses of the stations allowed to access
the port
• Port security aging to set the aging time for secure addresses on a port
• BPDU guard for shutting down a Port Fast-configured port when an invalid configuration occurs
• Standard and extended IP access control lists (ACLs) for defining inbound security policies on Layer
2 interfaces (port ACLs)
• Extended MAC access control lists for defining security policies in the inbound direction on Layer 2
interfaces
• Source and destination MAC-based ACLs for filtering non-IP traffic
• DHCP snooping to filter untrusted DHCP messages between untrusted hosts and DHCP servers
• IEEE 802.1x port-based authentication to prevent unauthorized devices (clients) from gaining
access to the network. These features are supported:
–
VLAN assignment for restricting IEEE 802.1x-authenticated users to a specified VLAN
–
Port security for controlling access to IEEE 802.1x ports
–
Voice VLAN to permit a Cisco IP Phone to access the voice VLAN regardless of the authorized
or unauthorized state of the port
