New to Networking basic question

gonzalezel · ‎07-26-2007

What is the difference between a loopback address and a management vlan address? Why do I need both on one switch, aren't they both used for management of the switch and if so which one would be considered the actual switch address.

ankbhasi · ‎07-26-2007

Hi Friend,

Loopback addresses are not configured on layer 2 switches and only configured on layer 3 switches. Now on layer 3 switches you have multiple vlans interface which can be used to manege the switches and not specific one address.

Loopback interface is an additional interface which can be used to manage the switch and is always up till the time switch itself goes down or all logical interfce are down.

HTH

Ankur

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sundar.palaniappan · ‎07-26-2007

Just want to add something to Ankur's post.

Loopbacks really aren't that helpful on switches as the vlan interfaces themselves are virtual interfaces. On the other hand they can be very useful on routers as the router's loopback address can be reached as long as one of the physical interfaces is up.

HTH

Sundar