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Catalyst 3750-X and 3560-X Switch Software Configuration Guide
OL-25303-03
Chapter 1 Configuring Interface Characteristics
Interface Types
Switch Ports
Switch ports are Layer 2-only interfaces associated with a physical port. Switch ports belong to one or
more VLANs. A switch port can be an access port, a trunk port, or a tunnel port. You can configure a port
as an access port or trunk port or let the Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP) operate on a per-port basis
to set the switchport mode by negotiating with the port on the other end of the link. You must manually
configure tunnel ports as part of an asymmetric link connected to an IEEE 802.1Q trunk port. Switch
ports are used for managing the physical interface and associated Layer 2 protocols and do not handle
routing or bridging.
Configure switch ports by using the switchport interface configuration commands. Use the switchport
command with no keywords to put an interface that is in Layer 3 mode into Layer 2 mode.
Note When you put an interface that is in Layer 3 mode into Layer 2 mode, the previous configuration
information related to the affected interface might be lost, and the interface is returned to its default
configuration.
For detailed information about configuring access port and trunk port characteristics, see Chapter 1,
“Configuring VLANs.” For more information about tunnel ports, see Chapter 1, “Configuring IEEE
802.1Q and Layer 2 Protocol Tunneling.”
Access Ports
An access port belongs to and carries the traffic of only one VLAN (unless it is configured as a voice
VLAN port). Traffic is received and sent in native formats with no VLAN tagging. Traffic arriving on
an access port is assumed to belong to the VLAN assigned to the port. If an access port receives a tagged
packet (Inter-Switch Link [ISL] or IEEE 802.1Q tagged), the packet is dropped, and the source address
is not learned.
Two types of access ports are supported:
• Static access ports are manually assigned to a VLAN (or through a RADIUS server for use with
IEEE 802.1x. For more information, see the “802.1x Readiness Check” section on page 1-15.)
• VLAN membership of dynamic access ports is learned through incoming packets. By default, a
dynamic access port is not a member of any VLAN, and forwarding to and from the port is enabled
only when the VLAN membership of the port is discovered. Dynamic access ports on the switch are
assigned to a VLAN by a VLAN Membership Policy Server (VMPS). The VMPS can be a
Catalyst 6500 series switch; the Catalyst 3750-X or 3560-X switch cannot be a VMPS server.
You can also configure an access port with an attached Cisco IP Phone to use one VLAN for voice traffic
and another VLAN for data traffic from a device attached to the phone. For more information about voice
VLAN ports, see Chapter 1, “Configuring Voice VLAN.”
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