What is a switch?

Before you know what a switch is and what it does, it would be important for you to have knowledge of the protocol stack or the OSI model because this way you will have a better understanding of how a computer network is organized, you will be able to identify the function that the equipment has with only me telling you which layer it works on.

So let's assume that you already have at least a vision of what the OSI model is and from that I tell you that a switch, in the case of L2, acts on layer 2 of the OSI model. This equipment only knows the network functions that go from the lowest layer, the physical, to layer 2 of the OSI model and that's all, this equipment doesn't know what an IP address is, it doesn't know what a TCP port is, it knows what frames are, knows what vlans, LACP, port security, trunk are.

In the great puzzle of computer networks, switches have their place and functions, and in the same way as other network equipment, their functions in the real world sometimes end up mixing with others, but as the criticality of the network increases, the functions are end up being more segmented and the equipment performs more specific functions.

There are still other subjects that I haven't commented on and that I intend to bring in other posts, this post here serves more to present a new equipment and some of its functions, but when it comes to switches, one can also talk about stacking, switch core, distribution, access switch, types of ports and technology used, in short, it is a very broad subject.

Here are some images of switches in case you don't even know and also the symbology used in network diagrams for example.

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