Layer2 Virtual Server and IP
Hi,
I am a newbie in networking so sorry for dumb question. I am not sure how exactly layer2 VS is working and why in configuration IP has to be set. As far as I can understand this type of VS is working as l2 bridge. For l2 bridge IP is not important, it knows only on which port given MAC address was learned and forwards frames with given destination MAC address to this port. My wild guess is that BIG-IP uses IP address to speed up forwarding. When ARP for IP configured for l2 VS is received it sends ARP reply with it's own MAC address. Then sending host directs frames to BIG-IP MAC address and BIG-IP just forwards this frames via a port when destination server is discovered. Is that right? I can't figure out what is then difference between l2 and l3 forwarding VS. In both cases IP address is identical with destination server IP, in both cases there in no pool and load balancing performed.
Piotr