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Can A Router Emulate A Layer 3 Switch

chull6509
Level 1
Level 1

I am building my CCNP lab. Currently I have three 2950 switches and a bunch of routers (3640s and 2610s). I need to practice layer 3 switching, but they seem to start around $200.

Can I use a 3640 with 6 ethernet ports as a layer 3 switch? I know it will switch, but how different will the CLI be?

5 Replies 5

Edison Ortiz
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

You can create switch virtual interfaces (SVI) in the 3640 and route between them.

For instance:

Create Vlan 2,3,4

vlan database

vlan 2,3,4

exit

On Port 1 and 2 assign to Vlan 2

On Port 3 and 4 assign to Vlan 3

On Port 5 and 6 assign to Vlan 4

interface fx/x

switchport access vlan [vlan-id]

Then create SVIs for each Vlan.

interface Vlan 2

ip address 192.168.2.1 255.255.255.0

interface Vlan 3

ip address 192.168.3.1 255.255.255.0

interface Vlan 4

ip address 192.168.4.1 255.255.255.0

Then place end devices on those port and ping across to test connectivity.

HTH,

__

Edison.

Please rate helpful posts

Hello Edison,

this is possible only on ports of an etherswitch module or also on normal ethernet ports ?

It's not clear if the device has the etherswitch module on it or the 6 lan interfaces are made of built in + other network modules

Hope to help

Giuseppe

Correct, my assumption was based on the 3640 having a L2 etherswitch port module. I don't think you can have 6 regular Layer3 ports in a 3640, but I can be mistaken.

__

Edison.

chull6509
Level 1
Level 1

To clear up the hardware config, the 3640 came with a NM-2E2W and I added a NM-4E to it. The IOS is 12.4(10a). I am mostly interested in learning the CLI for the switch, and if the commands are very different from the 3640.

The modules mentioned are regular ethernet ports and will not provide you with the typical Layer 3 switching from a Catalyst model.

I suggest investing on a 3560 8 Port switch for full CLI experience on Layer 3 switching w/ Cisco Catalyst.

If you begin Layer 3 switching w/ a router, it may introduce more confusion in your early days.

HTH,

__

Edison.

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