controller/interfaces

[Arjun Dabol]

hello,

can someone explain me what is the difference between interface and controller  in a router ?

what is the meaning of sts under controller ?

controller SONETx/x/x

sts 1
  width 1
   mode t3

[Charles Hill]

Hello adaveadmin,

Here is a link that describes the difference between an interface and a controller and when only an interface is needed or when an interface and controller is needed.

https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/11428401/difference-between-physical-interface-and-controller

STS-1 = 51.84Mbps, which is a sonet data transfer rate.

STS - Synchronous Transport Signal

Hope this helps.

Please rate helpful answers.

Thanks.

[xthuijs]

controller is at a different hierarchy in the interface model.

so for instance, your controller is used as the underlying place holder to instantiate some very low level properties such as channel bonding (such as defining how to "peel" circuits out of the physical layer, or say timeslots used out of the physical interface, when you have T1/T3, E1/E3 circuits.

these controllers can create another controller (such as a sonet goes into a t3, as in your config),

or a controller can create multiple interfaces, such as subdividing the timeslots out of the T1 which will create then serial interfaces.

controllers are generally configurable for channelized interfaces, such as SONET/SDH, T1/T3 and the like.

Note however taht also gig interfaces have controllers, this is the "hardware piece" of the physical interface, but there is nothing to configure there.

Only when you have DWDM 10G interfaces, that's when you have a controller underneath the 10G to define basically how the 10G operates at L1; eg wavelength and other L1 specific stuff.

cheers

xander