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If you're ready to build a large network system, this handy excerpt from Ethernet: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition gets you up to speed on a basic building block: Ethernet switches. Whether you're working on an enterprise or campus network, data center, or Internet service provider network, you'll learn how Ethernet switches function and how they're used in network designs.

This brief tutorial also provides an overview of the most important features found in switches, from the basics to more advanced features found in higher-cost and specialized switches.

• Get an overview of basic switch operation, the spanning tree protocol, and switch performance issues
• Learn about switch management and some of the most widely used switch features
• Discover how a hierarchical design can help maintain stable network operations
• Delve into special-purpose switches, such as multi-layer, access, stacking, and wireless access-point switches
• Learn about advanced switch features designed for specific networking environments
• Dive deeper into switches, with a list of protocol and package documentation

Charles Spurgeon is a senior technology architect at the University of Texas at Austin, where he works on a campus network system serving over 70,000 users in 200 buildings on two campuses. He has developed and managed large campus networks for many years, beginning at Stanford University, where he worked with a group that built the prototype Ethernet routers that became the founding technology for Cisco Systems. Charles, who attended Wesleyan University, lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Joann Zimmerman, and their cat Mona.

Joann Zimmerman is a former software engineer with a doctorate in art history from the University of Texas at Austin. She has written and documented compilers, software tools and network monitoring software, and been a creator of the build and configuration management process for several companies. The author of papers in software engineering and Renaissance art history, she currently she has multiple fantasy novels in process.