H3C Technologies H3C WX3000E Series Wireless Switches - Manual (Page 130)

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Managing interfaces
Interface management overview
An interface is the point of interaction 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, for example, Ethernet interfaces. A logical interface is an interface that can
implement data switching but does not exist physically, and must be created manually, for example,
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. To manage the device, you can log in
to the device through a management Ethernet interface.
• 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.
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 method 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.