An SVI interface is a virtual L3-interface used to terminate or generate traffic in the switch group it is assigned to.
Each unit supports 4095 virtual switch interfaces sviX (svi0 ... svi4095).
Each SVI interface can be assigned to a switch group. Once assigned the interface becomes an active member of that switch group and can exchange traffic with other group members. All traffic ingressed by this switch group (depending on the rules set) that is addressed to this SVI interface as well as all broadcast and multicast packets will be processed by the unit.
Each SVI interface can have one or several IP addresses configured.
An SVI interface can act as a parent interface for VLAN virtual interfaces. In this case the VLAN interface also becomes a member of the switch group assigned to the parent SVI interface.
An SVI interface (or any other interface that uses it as a parent interface) can not be included into a switch group directly.
An SVI interface can be used for channel aggregation using lag interfaces.
The SVI interface is considered active once it is up and assigned to a switch group.
Command syntax:
- "ifc sviN [IP address] up" - create the SVI interface and assign the IP address to it (optional)
- "svi N group G" - assign the SVI interface "N" to the group "G"
- "ifconfig vlanX vlan V vlandev sviN" - assign the SVI interface "N" as a parent interface to VLAN interface "X" processing traffic tagged with "vlan V".
NOTE
When the switch group has SVI interface attached it can pass the broadcast/multicast traffic transparently, however the device itself can use only SVI interface to receive the broadcast/multicast packets within this switch group. Therefore, in order to communicate with other devices via protocols, that utilize the broadcast/multicast packets (such as OSPF, RIP, DHCP) SVI interface should be used.
If you have to use the physical interface for such purpose (e.g. to establish OSPF neighbor relationships using IP-address assigned to Ethernet interface or to the radio interface in case of DHCP) there are two options:
- Interface must be added to a switch group with no SVI attached (make sure traffic is not processed by another switch group).
- Interface must not be included into any switch group.