<div>
thanks nazsky,<br />
<br />
Somehow it does not seem &nbsp;right to connect an L3 port to an L2 access port. Should the L3 port have an ip address and act as a gateway for the L2 port?<br />
<br />
It also seems strange to have trunking on an L3 port. Although I know subinterfaces in router on a stick do have dot1q enabled from what I remember.<br />
<br />
What I am familiar with is L2 trunk ports connecting to L2 trunk ports and then an SVI as the gateway and routing between vlans. This may be the access and distribution layers but when we connect to the core and WAN it seems to be more L3 to L3.<br />
<br />
Can you clarify this some more?
</div>


thanks nazsky,

Somehow it does not seem  right to connect an L3 port to an L2 access port. Should the L3 port have an ip address and act as a gateway for the L2 port?

It also seems strange to have trunking on an L3 port. Although I know subinterfaces in router on a stick do have dot1q enabled from what I remember.

What I am familiar with is L2 trunk ports connecting to L2 trunk ports and then an SVI as the gateway and routing between vlans. This may be the access and distribution layers but when we connect to the core and WAN it seems to be more L3 to L3.

Can you clarify this some more?

<div>
<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
When you hook up two devices what options do you have?<br />
<br />
L2 to L2<br />
L3 to L3<br />
L3 to L2<br />
<br />
trunk dot1q or isl to another trunk<br />
access port to access port<br />
access port to trunk<br />
<br />
What is recommended?<br />
<br />
This is an area I need help to understand. A shove in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.<br />

</div>
</div>


When you hook up two devices what options do you have?

L2 to L2
L3 to L3
L3 to L2

trunk dot1q or isl to another trunk
access port to access port
access port to trunk

What is recommended?

This is an area I need help to understand. A shove in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.


Connecting two Routers/switches together

A switch is a device that filters and forwards packets of data between LAN segments. Switches operate at the data link layer or the network layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model and therefore support any packet protocol. LANs that use switches to join segments are called switched LANs or, in the case of Ethernet networks, switched Ethernet LANs. A hub is a connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports; when a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments of the LAN can see all packets.

Switches / Hubs

A router is a networking device that forwards data packets between computer networks. Routers perform the "traffic directing" functions on the Internet. The most familiar type of routers are home and small office cable or DSL routers that simply pass data, such as web pages, email, IM, and videos between computers and the Internet. More sophisticated routers, such as enterprise routers, connect large business or ISP networks up to the powerful core routers that forward data at high speed along the optical fiber lines of the Internet backbone. Though routers are typically dedicated hardware devices, use of software-based routers has grown increasingly common.

Routers

Network design and methodology, also known as network architecture, is the design of a communication network. It is a framework for the specification of a network's physical components and their functional organization and configuration, its operational principles and procedures, as well as data formats used in its operation. In telecommunication, the specification of a network architecture may also include a detailed description of products and services delivered via a communications network, as well as detailed rate and billing structures under which services are compensated.