Catalyst 4003 with Layer 3 Module

[jfisher]

I have worked with the cabletron smart switch routers in the past and am used to the way they operate. I would set up vlans and then interfaces associated with those vlans. After that the smart switch would answer routing requests on any port attached to the switch that was a member of the same vlan. I am trying to achieve something like that with the catalyst 4003 except I don't have the luxury of creating vlans. It looks like the only way to set up layer three switching is to assign an address to one of the gigabit interfaces on the switch. This, in my view, is not layer three switching at all! This is using the switch as a very fast router as it is only answering requests on the single interface and that interface must attach to the core of my network to be able to access all of my end users. Has anyone set up this type of network? Is there a way, without vlans, to get the switch to answer on any installed interface?

[millerv]

Have you got a copy of the release notes for the l3

engine ? It does do layer 3 switching, but wants vlans off the supervisor....

[jfisher]

Yes I took a look at the layer three module documentation and example configuration. It looks as though they are setting up an etherchannel connection internal to the Cat4003 that will act as a vlan trunk? They want subinterfaces to be created for configured vlans.

I don't have the option of using vlans so it looks as if the cat will be working like a very expensive router; answering all requests on a single gigabit interface connected to the network core. Give me a reality check on this idea. Take all switches on my lan and put them in VLAN 2. (I said earlier that I couldn't use VLANs. What I should have said was I couldn't use more then one VLAN because of location, addressing, knowledge issues.) Create an interface on vlan 2 for each of my three class c subnets and move the cat to the core of the network. It's a real pain in the neck trying to figure this stuff out without the equipment right here in front of me! I am helping out some of our clients in Italy redesign their network and I only have an equipment list to work with. Thanks for the reply.