What is the difference between layer 2 & 3 routing?

SurferdudeHB

I'm still not fully understanding the main differences as I'm reading up on MPLS (for curiosity).

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Comments

human151

You'd have better luck asking this in the CCIP forum

kalebksp

There isn't any layer 2 routing (layer 2 is switching), MPLS is sometimes referred to as layer 2.5 because the labels are between the layer 2 and 3 headers. MPLS essentially allows packets to be forwarded without layer 3 (IP address) lookups, which in itself is not all that great. The real advantage of MPLS comes into play with applications such as BGP free cores, MPLS VPNs and traffic engineering in service provider environments.

bigheadx

Layer 2 works with the MAC,
Layer 3 works with the IP,

So, in some cases, its much faster using a layer 2 switch.. you wont need to go the far into the packet to get the ip..

Yet it has its restrictions as well.

Its a give/take.