Layer 2 switch development

When I was working at Dasan Networks ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DASAN_Networks ), I developed a Layer 2 switch device based on Dasan Networks' custom Linux using Broadcom and Marvell’s Layer 2 switch SoCs. In addition, I have developed DHCP and ARP and other functions.

The following figure shows the Linux network stack of 24 port ethernet switch. Layer 2 switch SoCs provides basic functions such as RX/TX Ring Buffer and MAC address learning table as shown in the figure below. In addition, it provides additional functions at the Ethernet level such as VLAN, STP and Link Aggregation.

Although it is a Layer 2 switch network device, additional functions can be implemented by adding an application daemon running on the application layer as shown in the figure below.

ARP is handled directly by the Linux kernel, not by the application.