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Syngress N10-003 EXAM QUESTION

mgmguy1mgmguy1 Member Posts: 485 ■■■■□□□□□□
I found this question in my Syngress N10-003 Exam book.
This really blew me away because I was unaware that these switches even existed.

Here is the question.
You are looking into purchasing a new switch for your network.You want the switch to be able to route packagets based on the uniform resource locator included with the packet.Which switch type should you buy.

A. Layer 2 Switch
B. Layer 3 Switch
C. Layer 4 Switch
D. Layer 5 Switch

The Answer in my book was Layer 5 switch. I decided to do review my Comptia Network plus exam objectives and in the Domain 1.0 section under 1.6 it states : Identify the purposes,features,and fuctions of the following network components Hubs,Switches,routers ect....
In all the material I have read thus far ,comptia is asking you to identify the fact that switches work on layer 2 of the OSI model and that switches are to replace hubs as they improve network performance by creating a separate collision domain per port. I was even aware of a Layer 3 switch and what it does b/c I have seen it in technotes before and other material.

Since I don't see any reference to Layer 3,4,5 switches in the Technotes or the Comptia 2005 objectives I am going to assume that all Comptia is asking us to know is that switches operate on the Data Link Layer of the OSI model and that switches are to replace hubs as they improve network performance by creating a separate collision domain per port.
"A lot of fellows nowadays have a B.A., M.D., or Ph.D. Unfortunately, they don't have a J.O.B."

Fats Domino

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    Megadeth4168Megadeth4168 Member Posts: 2,157
    I don't think you will see anything on the real exam like that....

    Honestly I have not heard of a Layer 5 switch (that's not to say it does not exist) so I am probably going to search the internet a bit about it and ask my future father in law....
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    2sweet292sweet29 Member Posts: 14 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Dont kill yourself with it I just took the exam and I promise you there is nothing like that on there! :) It only ask basic questions like the one you read in the Comptia objective
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    bighornsheepbighornsheep Member Posts: 1,506
    That question doesnt make total sense to me. But I would say it's either layer 3 switching, or layer 4 switching. Unless if they're really trying to ask you what layer URL resides on.
    Jack of all trades, master of none
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    Danman32Danman32 Member Posts: 1,243
    What I think you need to focus on is what is being used to route. Since the box they call a switch is being called upon to make decisions based on a URL, what layer uses URLs?

    Answer, layer 5. Now I might agree calling this box a switch is a bad idea. It is operating more as a gateway or a firewall. But the box apparently is supposed to make layer 3 (packet routing) decisions, and probably the reason it is called a switch is because it can also make layer 2 forwarding decisions.
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