Cabletron Systems FPIM 02 FPIM-02, User Manual

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3-3
Operation
between the host processor, the INB backplane, and LAN/WAN interfaces on the
front panel of SmartSwitch 9000 modules. The SmartSwitch ASIC can operate in
two modes: as a traditional switch, or as a SecureFast Switch (SFS). When
operating in traditional switch mode, it makes filtering/forwarding decisions
based on Destination Address (DA), with standard IEEE 802.1d learning. When
operating in SecureFast Switch mode, all filtering/forwarding decisions are made
based on a DA-SA pair and its receive port. These DA-SA pairs with the
associated receive port are programmed into the switch using Cabletron’s
SecureFast Virtual Network Server (SecureFast VNS). This provides the network
administrator with the ultimate network security without the performance
degradation found when using routers or traditional switches with special
filtering capabilities. The SmartSwitch 9000 enterprise switching system can
support modules operating in traditional switch mode and SecureFast Switch
mode simultaneously providing security when/where needed and ease of
configuration where security is not required.
i960 Core
The i960 core provides the SNMP protocol stacks, to support industry standard
MIBs. Additionally, Cabletron enterprise extension MIBs are supported for each
media type. Advanced management services, such as the Distributed LAN
Monitor, telnet and network address to MAC address mapping, are also provided
by the i960 core.
The Host engine sends and receives packets via the CPU SmartSwitch ASIC
Interface. This allows the traditional switch to perform spanning tree protocol and
other traditional switching functions. The SMB Interfaces provide communication
to the Host Engine for management functions and communication with other
modules in the chassis.