H3C Technologies H3C WX3000E Series Wireless Switches - Manual (Page 103)

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Interface management
Interface management overview
An interface is the point of interaction or communication used for exchanging data between entities.
There are two types of interfaces: physical and logical. A physical interface refers to an interface that
physically exists as a hardware component. An example is Ethernet interfaces. A logical interface refers
to an interface that can implement data switching but does not exist physically. A logical interface must
be created manually. An example is VLAN interfaces.
You can use the interface management feature on the Web-based configuration interface to manage the
following types of interfaces.
• Layer 2 Ethernet interface—Physical interface operating on the data link layer for forwarding Layer
2 protocol packets.
• Management Ethernet interface—Physical interface operating on the network layer. You can
configure IP addresses for a management Ethernet interface. You can log in to the device through
a management Ethernet interface to manage the device.
• Loopback interface—A loopback interface is a software-only virtual interface. The physical layer
state and link layer protocols of a loopback interface are always up unless the loopback interface
is manually shut down. You can enable routing protocols on a loopback interface, and a loopback
interface can send and receive routing protocol packets. When you assign an IPv4 address whose
mask is not 32-bit, the system automatically changes the mask into a 32-bit mask.
• Null interface—A null interface is a completely software-based logical interface, and is always up.
However, you cannot use it to forward data packets or configure an IP address or link layer protocol
on it. With a null interface specified as the next hop of a static route to a specific network segment,
any packets routed to the network segment are dropped. The null interface provides a simpler way
to filter packets than ACL. You can filter uninteresting traffic by transmitting it to a null interface
instead of applying an ACL.
• VLAN interface—Virtual Layer 3 interface used for Layer 3 communications between VLANs. A
VLAN interface corresponds to a VLAN. You can assign an IP address to a VLAN interface and
specify it as the gateway of the corresponding VLAN to forward traffic destined for an IP network
segment different from that of the VLAN.
• Virtual template (VT) interface—Template used for configuring virtual access (VA) interfaces.
• Bridge-Aggregation interface (BAGG)—Multiple Layer 2 Ethernet interfaces can be combined to
form a Layer 2 aggregation group. The logical interface created for the group is called an
aggregate interface.
With the interface management feature, you can view interface information, create/remove logical
interfaces, change interface status, and reset interface parameters.
Displaying interface information and statistics
1. Select Device > Interface from the navigation tree.
The interface management page appears. The page displays the interfaces' names, IP addresses,
masks, and status.