CH A P T E R 34
Configuring IP Unicast Layer 3 Switching
This chapter describes how to configure IP unicast Layer 3 switching in Cisco IOS Release 12.2SX.
Note For complete syntax and usage information for the commands used in this chapter, see these
publications:
• The Cisco IOS Master Command List, at this URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/mcl/allreleasemcl/all_book.html
• The Release 12.2 publications at this URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/iosswrel/ps1835/products_installation_and_configuratio
n_guides_list.html
Tip For additional information about Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches (including configuration examples
and troubleshooting information), see the documents listed on this page:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps708/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
Participate in the Technical Documentation Ideas forum
This chapter consists of these sections:
• Understanding Layer 3 Switching, page 34-2
• Default Hardware Layer 3 Switching Configuration, page 34-4
• Configuration Guidelines and Restrictions, page 34-4
• Configuring Hardware Layer 3 Switching, page 34-5
• Displaying Hardware Layer 3 Switching Statistics, page 34-6
Note • IPX traffic is fast switched on the route proccessor (RP). For more information, see this URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/12_2/atipx/configuration/guide/fatipx_c.html
• For information about IP multicast Layer 3 switching, see Chapter 37, “Configuring IPv4 Multicast
Layer 3 Switching.”
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Chapter 34 Configuring IP Unicast Layer 3 Switching
Understanding Layer 3 Switching
Understanding Layer 3 Switching
These sections describe Layer 3 switching:
• Understanding Hardware Layer 3 Switching, page 34-2
• Understanding Layer 3-Switched Packet Rewrite, page 34-2
Understanding Hardware Layer 3 Switching
Hardware Layer 3 switching allows the PFC and DFCs, instead of the RP, to forward IP unicast traffic
between subnets. Hardware Layer 3 switching provides wire-speed forwarding on the PFC and DFCs,
instead of in software on the RP. Hardware Layer 3 switching requires minimal support from the RP. The
RP routes any traffic that cannot be hardware Layer 3 switched.
Hardware Layer 3 switching supports the routing protocols configured on the RP. Hardware Layer 3
switching does not replace the routing protocols configured on the RP.
Hardware Layer 3 switching runs equally on the PF3 and DFCs to provide IP unicast Layer 3 switching
locally on each module. Hardware Layer 3 switching provides the following functions:
• Hardware access control list (ACL) switching for policy-based routing (PBR)
• Hardware flow-based switching for TCP intercept and reflexive ACL forwarding decisions
• Hardware Cisco Express Forwarding (CEF) switching for all other IP unicast traffic
Hardware Layer 3 switching on the PFC supports modules that do not have a DFC. The RP forwards
traffic that cannot be Layer 3 switched.
Traffic is hardware Layer 3 switched after being processed by access lists and quality of service (QoS).
Hardware Layer 3 switching makes a forwarding decision locally on the ingress-port module for each
packet and sends the rewrite information for each packet to the egress port, where the rewrite occurs
when the packet is transmitted from the switch.
Hardware Layer 3 switching generates flow statistics for Layer 3-switched traffic. Hardware Layer 3
flow statistics can be used for NetFlow Data Export (NDE). (See Chapter 64, “Configuring NDE”.)
Understanding Layer 3-Switched Packet Rewrite
When a packet is Layer 3 switched from a source in one subnet to a destination in another subnet, the
switch performs a packet rewrite at the egress port based on information learned from the RP so that the
packets appear to have been routed by the RP.
Packet rewrite alters five fields:
• Layer 2 (MAC) destination address
• Layer 2 (MAC) source address
• Layer 3 IP Time to Live (TTL)
• Layer 3 checksum
• Layer 2 (MAC) checksum (also called the frame checksum or FCS)
Note Packets are rewritten with the encapsulation appropriate for the next-hop subnet.
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Chapter 34 Configuring IP Unicast Layer 3 Switching
Understanding Layer 3 Switching
If Source A and Destination B are in different subnets and Source A sends a packet to the RP to be routed
to Destination B, the switch recognizes that the packet was sent to the Layer 2 (MAC) address of the RP.
To perform Layer 3 switching, the switch rewrites the Layer 2 frame header, changing the Layer 2
destination address to the Layer 2 address of Destination B and the Layer 2 source address to the Layer 2
address of the RP. The Layer 3 addresses remain the same.
In IP unicast and IP multicast traffic, the switch decrements the Layer 3 TTL value by 1 and recomputes
the Layer 3 packet checksum. The switch recomputes the Layer 2 frame checksum and forwards (or, for
multicast packets, replicates as necessary) the rewritten packet to Destination B’s subnet.
A received IP unicast packet is formatted (conceptually) as follows:
Layer 2 Frame Header Layer 3 IP Header Data FCS
Destination Source Destination Source TTL Checksum
RP MAC Source A MAC Destination B IP Source A IP n calculation1
After the switch rewrites an IP unicast packet, it is formatted (conceptually) as follows:
Layer 2 Frame Header Layer 3 IP Header Data FCS
Destination Source Destination Source TTL Checksum
Destination B MAC RP MAC Destination B IP Source A IP n-1 calculation2
Hardware Layer 3 Switching Examples
Figure 34-1 on page 34-4 shows a simple network topology. In this example, Host A is on the Sales
VLAN (IP subnet 171.59.1.0), Host B is on the Marketing VLAN (IP subnet 171.59.3.0), and Host C is
on the Engineering VLAN (IP subnet 171.59.2.0).
When Host A initiates an HTTP file transfer to Host C, Hardware Layer 3 switching uses the information
in the local forwarding information base (FIB) and adjacency table to forward packets from Host A to
Host C.
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Chapter 34 Configuring IP Unicast Layer 3 Switching
Default Hardware Layer 3 Switching Configuration
Figure 34-1 Hardware Layer 3 Switching Example Topology
Source IP Destination Rewrite Src/Dst Destination
Address IP Address MAC Address VLAN
171.59.1.2 171.59.3.1 Dd:Bb Marketing
171.59.1.2 171.59.2.2 Dd:Cc Engineering
171.59.2.2 171.59.1.2 Dd:Aa Sales
MAC = Bb
MAC = Dd ing
a rket
MSFC
ne t 3/M
MAC = Aa Sub Host B
171.59.3.1
Subnet 1/Sales
Sub
net
2/E
ngin
Host A eeri
171.59.1.2 ng MAC = Cc
Data 171.59.1.2:171.59.2.2 Aa:Dd Host C
171.59.2.2
44610
Data 171.59.1.2:171.59.2.2 Dd:Cc
Default Hardware Layer 3 Switching Configuration
Table 34-1 shows the default hardware Layer 3 switching configuration.
Table 34-1 Default Hardware Layer 3 Switching Configuration
Feature Default Value
Hardware Layer 3 switching enable state Enabled (cannot be disabled)
Cisco IOS CEF enable state on RP Enabled (cannot be disabled)
1
Cisco IOS dCEF enable state on RP Enabled (cannot be disabled)
1. dCEF = Distributed Cisco Express Forwarding
Configuration Guidelines and Restrictions
Follow these guidelines and restrictions when configuring hardware Layer 3 switching:
• Hardware Layer 3 switching supports the following ingress and egress encapsulations:
– Ethernet V2.0 (ARPA)
– 802.3 with 802.2 with 1 byte control (SAP1)
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Configuring Hardware Layer 3 Switching
Configuring Hardware Layer 3 Switching
Note For information on configuring unicast routing on the RP, see Chapter 30, “Configuring Layer 3
Interfaces.”
Hardware Layer 3 switching is permanently enabled. No configuration is required.
To display information about Layer 3-switched traffic, perform this task:
Command Purpose
1
Router# show interface {{type slot/port} | Displays a summary of Layer 3-switched traffic.
{port-channel number}} | begin L3
1. type = fastethernet, gigabitethernet, or tengigabitethernet
This example shows how to display information about hardware Layer 3-switched traffic on Fast
Ethernet port 3/3:
Router# show interface fastethernet 3/3 | begin L3
L3 in Switched: ucast: 0 pkt, 0 bytes - mcast: 12 pkt, 778 bytes mcast
L3 out Switched: ucast: 0 pkt, 0 bytes - mcast: 0 pkt, 0 bytes
4046399 packets input, 349370039 bytes, 0 no buffer
Received 3795255 broadcasts, 2 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles
<...output truncated...>
Router#
Note The Layer 3 switching packet count is updated approximately every five seconds.
Cisco IOS CEF and dCEF are permanently enabled. No configuration is required to support hardware
Layer 3 switching.
With a PFC (and DFCs, if present), hardware Layer 3 switching uses per-flow load balancing based on
IP source and destination addresses. Per-flow load balancing avoids the packet reordering that can be
necessary with per-packet load balancing. For any given flow, all PFC- and DFC-equipped switches
make exactly the same load-balancing decision, which can result in nonrandom load balancing.
The Cisco IOS CEF ip load-sharing per-packet, ip cef accounting per-prefix, and ip cef accounting
non-recursive commands on the RP apply only to traffic that is CEF-switched in software on the RP.
The commands do not affect traffic that is hardware Layer 3 switched on the PFC or on DFC-equipped
switching modules.
For information about Cisco IOS CEF and dCEF on the RP, see these publications:
• The “Cisco Express Forwarding” sections at this URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/12_2/switch/configuration/guide/xcfcef.html
• The Cisco IOS Switching Services Command Reference publication at this URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/12_2/switch/command/reference/fswtch_r.html
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Chapter 34 Configuring IP Unicast Layer 3 Switching
Displaying Hardware Layer 3 Switching Statistics
Displaying Hardware Layer 3 Switching Statistics
Hardware Layer 3 switching statistics are obtained on a per-VLAN basis.
To display hardware Layer 3 switching statistics, perform this task:
Command Purpose
1
Router# show interfaces {{type slot/port} | Displays hardware Layer 3 switching statistics.
{port-channel number}}
1. type = fastethernet, gigabitethernet, or tengigabitethernet
This example shows how to display hardware Layer 3 switching statistics:
Router# show interfaces gigabitethernet 9/5 | include Switched
L2 Switched: ucast: 8199 pkt, 1362060 bytes - mcast: 6980 pkt, 371952 bytes
L3 in Switched: ucast: 0 pkt, 0 bytes - mcast: 0 pkt, 0 bytes mcast
L3 out Switched: ucast: 0 pkt, 0 bytes - mcast: 0 pkt, 0 bytes
To display adjacency table information, perform this task:
Command Purpose
1
Router# show adjacency [{{type slot/port} | Displays adjacency table information. The optional detail
{port-channel number}} | detail | internal | summary] keyword displays detailed adjacency information, including
Layer 2 information.
1. type = fastethernet, gigabitethernet, or tengigabitethernet
This example shows how to display adjacency statistics:
Router# show adjacency gigabitethernet 9/5 detail
Protocol Interface Address
IP GigabitEthernet9/5 172.20.53.206(11)
504 packets, 6110 bytes
00605C865B82
000164F83FA50800
ARP 03:49:31
Note Adjacency statistics are updated approximately every 60 seconds.
Tip For additional information about Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches (including configuration examples
and troubleshooting information), see the documents listed on this page:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps708/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
Participate in the Technical Documentation Ideas forum
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