Release Notes: Version E.10.37 Software

Clarifications
General Switch Traffic Security Guideline
The simplest design is the two-tier design because the number of possible paths between any two
nodes is kept low and any bad link would have to be communicated only to it's neighbor switch.
As shown here, meshing
allows multiple redundant
links between switches in the
domain, and more than one
link is allowed between any
two switches in the domain.
Note also that a switch can
have up to 24 ports configured
for meshing.
Switch 1 Switch 2
Switch 3 Switch 4 Switch 5 Switch 6 Switch 7 Switch 8
Figure 1. Example of a Two-Tier Mesh Design
Other factors affecting the performance of mesh networks include the number of destination
addresses that have to be maintained, and the overall traffic levels and patterns. However a
conservative approach when designing new mesh implementations is to use the two-tier design and
limit the mesh domain to eight switches where possible.
For more information, refer to the chapter titled “Switch Meshing” in the Advanced Traffic Management
Guide for your switch.
General Switch Traffic Security Guideline
Where the switch is running multiple security options, it implements network traffic security based
on the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection model) precedence of the individual options, from the
lowest to the highest. The following list shows the order in which the switch implements configured
security features on traffic moving through a given port.
1. Disabled/Enabled physical port
2. MAC lockout (Applies to all ports on the switch.)
3. MAC lockdown
4. Port security
5. Authorized IP Managers
6. Application features at higher levels in the OSI model, such as SSH.
(The above list does not address the mutually exclusive relationship that exists among some security
features.)
9