Recognize routers, switches, firewalls, access points, controllers, and endpoints — and understand the three-tier hierarchical design (access / distribution / core) that organizes them in any enterprise.
Enterprise networks have historically used three layers. Access switches connect end-users. Distribution switches aggregate access switches and apply policy. Core switches forward at very high speed between distribution blocks. Each layer has clear responsibilities and predictable failure domains.
Smaller sites collapse the distribution and core into one layer — the two-tier 'collapsed core' design — because the bandwidth and policy boundaries can be served by a single device.
1 more section in this chapter, plus a 2-question quiz.
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