Nating question

snarayanaraju · ‎09-23-2009

Hi Experts,

It is a design query. I hope you will shed some light on this.

I learned that NAT support is not available in CISCO 3560 L3 switches and even 4500 Switches. It start only from 6500 Switches.

What is the reason Cisco switches is not able to support NAT feature in 3560 Switches.

The link clearly says this:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk648/tk361/technologies_tech_note09186a008011c629.shtml

Thanks in advance

sairam

naveen_b81 · ‎09-24-2009

There is probably no provision for maintaining the NAT table in the switches.

Peter Paluch · ‎09-24-2009

Hello,

Personally, I think it is mostly a marketing decision. The problem of hardware support for NAT is, I believe, already solved as the NAT is supported in Cat6500, for example. It should not be a problem to augment the Cat3560 with the proper ASICs to perform NAT, however, the Cisco probably does not want to place the Cat3560 into the enterprise edge layer where the external connectivity is provided, as it has different products for that purpose. The Cat3560 is intended for access or lower-demand distribution layers.

Best regards,

Peter

snarayanaraju · ‎09-27-2009

Hi Peter,

I too have a same thought.

Do you have any idea is there any other OEM supports NAT in their Distribution Layer switches.

sairam

Laurent Aubert · ‎09-27-2009

Hi,

NAT is not supported on 35xx platform due to hardware limitation.

ASICS of the PFC on 6500 are far more advanced than the one used on low-end switches.

HTH

Laurent.