What is Data Link Layer Switching?

Network switching is the process of forwarding data frames or packets from one port to another leading to data transmission from source to destination. Data link layer is the second layer of the Open System Interconnections (OSI) model whose function is to divide the stream of bits from physical layer into data frames and transmit the frames according to switching requirements. Switching in data link layer is done by network devices called bridges.

Bridges

A data link layer bridge connects multiple LANs (local area networks) together to form a larger LAN. This process of aggregating networks is called network bridging. A bridge connects the different components so that they appear as parts of a single network.

The following diagram shows connection by a bridge −

Switching by Bridges

When a data frame arrives at a particular port of a bridge, the bridge examines the frame’s data link address, or more specifically, the MAC address. If the destination address as well as the required switching is valid, the bridge sends the frame to the destined port. Otherwise, the frame is discarded.

The bridge is not responsible for end to end data transfer. It is concerned with transmitting the data frame from one hop to the next. Hence, they do not examine the payload field of the frame. Due to this, they can help in switching any kind of packets from the network layer above.

Bridges also connect virtual LANs (VLANs) to make a larger VLAN.

If any segment of the bridged network is wireless, a wireless bridge is used to perform the switching.

There are three main ways for bridging −

• simple bridging
• multi-port bridging
• learning or transparent bridging

Moumita

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Updated on: 13-Jul-2020

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