Layer 2 and Layer 3 Flows on Catalyst 4006 and 6509

[ROBERT THOMPSON]

Hi,

Can anyone advise on the following scenario....

4006 Supervisor 3 - multiple vlans (layer 3 switching) scenario

1. If the supervisor 3 fails on the 4006, how long will the Layer 2 and Layer 3 flows exist on the box. (I presume Layer 3 flows will cease to exist)

2. How long will each user have layer 2 access to the LAN (1 big domain / VLAN).

The way I understand it is that Layer 2 flows will exists as long as the CAM is active. I am correct in saying this

6509 - I supervisor (no redundancy and layer 3 switching) mutliple vlan scenario

1. If a sup fails on the 6509, how long will layer 2 and layer 3 flows exist.

Any input is greatly appreciated

Regards

Rob

[h.lu]

I think,there might be many kinds of failure.If the DRAM or stuffs responsible for storing dynamic information corrupts,anything will be lost.

[ROBERT THOMPSON]

Thanks for your reply. I understand about CAM, aging etc. I wanted to make sure that a SUP, when it resets or fails etc, does not reset the backplane on the switch causing current L2 flow loss.

I will be testing all scenarios. I will be implementing dual sup's on the 6509, so the issue is not a big one. On the 4006, 1 sup only. I have considred the 4507, but due to its age on the market, it is high risk.

Cheers

Rob

[Prashanth Krishnappa]

If the entire Supervisor fails, the entire operation of the switch fails if you do not have a redundant Supervisor/Switch. However, in a CAT6509 running hybrid OS, if the Layer 3 card(MSFC) fails, Layer 2 continues to operate(within the VLAN). The default MLS aging time is 256 seconds