Layer 3 Configuration

Internet Protocol (IP), the foundation of the IP protocol suite, is a packet-based protocol used for the exchange of data over computer networks. IP is a network layer that contains addressing and control information to allow routing of data packets. IP handles addressing, fragmentation, reassembly, and protocol de-multiplexing.

Supermicro switches support both TCP and UDP at the transport layer for maximum flexibility in services.

• Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is a connection-oriented protocol built upon the IP layer. TCP specifies the format of data and acknowledgments used in the transfer of data and also the procedures used to ensure that the data arrives in the correct order. With TCP, multiple applications on a system can communicate concurrently as it handles all de-multiplexing of the incoming traffic among the application programs.

• With UDP, applications can send messages (also called datagrams) to other hosts on an IP network without prior setup of transmission channels or data paths. UDP is suitable when error checking and correction are either not necessary or not performed in the application, avoiding the overhead of such processing at the network interface level.