L4 switch

[minwoo.lee]

Hi

I am trying to implement load balance between two firewall and found this diagram from cisco website. I just wonder why L2 is needed. What is it for?

L4-----L2----F/W----L2----L4

| \ / \ / |

| \/ \/ |

| / \ / \ |

L4----L2-----F/W----L2----L4

Thanks

[thisisshanky]

L2 is a switch.

With two switches, you can run redundant connections from the server nic to each of the switches, thus providing redundancy. You can also connect a number of hosts to the L2 switch.

Also if you run a LAN based failover, between the two PIX, then you ll need to link the pix failover interface to a switch or use a cross over cable (atleast).