You can configure a port as a Layer 2 interface or a Layer 3 interface. A routed interface is a physical port that can route IP traffic to another device. A routed interface is a Layer 3 interface only and does not support Layer 2 protocols, such as the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP).

All Ethernet ports are switched interfaces by default. You can change this default behavior with the CLI setup script or through the system default switchport command.

You can assign an IP address to the port, enable routing, and assign routing protocol characteristics to this routed interface.

You can assign a static MAC address to a Layer 3 interface. For information on configuring MAC addresses, see the Layer 2 Switching Configuration Guide for your device.

You can also create a Layer 3 port channel from routed interfaces.

You can create virtual subinterfaces on a parent interface configured as a Layer 3 interface. A parent interface can be a physical port or a port channel.

Subinterfaces divide the parent interface into two or more virtual interfaces on which you can assign unique Layer 3 parameters such as IP addresses and dynamic routing protocols. The IP address for each subinterface should be in a different subnet from any other subinterface on the parent interface.

You create a subinterface with a name that consists of the parent interface name (for example, Ethernet 2/1) followed by a period and then by a number that is unique for that subinterface. For example, you could create a subinterface for Ethernet interface 2/1 named Ethernet 2/1.1 where .1 indicates the subinterface.

Cisco NX-OS enables subinterfaces when the parent interface is enabled. You can shut down a subinterface independent of shutting down the parent interface. If you shut down the parent interface, Cisco NX-OS shuts down all associated subinterfaces as well.

One use of subinterfaces is to provide unique Layer 3 interfaces to each VLAN that is supported by the parent interface. In this scenario, the parent interface connects to a Layer 2 trunking port on another device. You configure a subinterface and associate the subinterface to a VLAN ID using 802.1Q trunking.

The following figure shows a trunking port from a switch that connects to router B on interface E 2/1. This interface contains three subinterfaces that are associated with each of the three VLANs that are carried by the trunking port.

Figure 1. Subinterfaces for VLANs

A VLAN interface or a switch virtual interface (SVI) is a virtual routed interface that connects a VLAN on the device to the Layer 3 router engine on the same device. Only one VLAN interface can be associated with a VLAN, but you need to configure a VLAN interface for a VLAN only when you want to route between VLANs or to provide IP host connectivity to the device through a virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instance that is not the management VRF. When you enable VLAN interface creation, Cisco NX-OS creates a VLAN interface for the default VLAN (VLAN 1) to permit remote switch administration.

You must enable the VLAN network interface feature before you can configure it. The system automatically takes a checkpoint prior to disabling the feature, and you can roll back to this checkpoint. For information about rollbacks and checkpoints, see the System Management Configuration Guide for your device.

Note	You cannot delete the VLAN interface for VLAN 1.

You can route across VLAN interfaces to provide Layer 3 inter-VLAN routing by configuring a VLAN interface for each VLAN that you want to route traffic to and assigning an IP address on the VLAN interface. For more information on IP addresses and IP routing, see the Unicast Routing Configuration Guide for your device.

The following figure shows two hosts connected to two VLANs on a device. You can configure VLAN interfaces for each VLAN that allows Host 1 to communicate with Host 2 using IP routing between the VLANs. VLAN 1 communicates at Layer 3 over VLAN interface 1and VLAN 10 communicates at Layer 3 over VLAN interface 10.

Figure 2. Connecting Two VLANs with VLAN Interfaces

A loopback interface is a virtual interface with a single endpoint that is always up. Any packet that is transmitted over a loopback interface is immediately received by this interface. Loopback interfaces emulate a physical interface.

You can use loopback interfaces for performance analysis, testing, and local communications. Loopback interfaces can act as a termination address for routing protocol sessions. This loopback configuration allows routing protocol sessions to stay up even if some of the outbound interfaces are down.

Cisco NX-OS supports tunnel interfaces as IP tunnels. IP tunnels can encapsulate a same- layer or higher layer protocol and transport the result over IP through a tunnel that is created between two routers.

When you assign a separate VLAN to each customer, an inefficient IP addressing scheme is created as follows:

• Assigning a block of addresses to a customer VLAN can result in unused IP addresses.

• If the number of devices in the VLAN increases, the number of assigned addresses might not be large enough to accommodate them.

These problems are reduced by using private VLANs, where all members in the private VLAN share a common address space, which is allocated to the primary VLAN. Hosts are connected to secondary VLANs, and the DHCP server assigns them IP addresses from the block of addresses allocated to the primary VLAN. Subsequent IP addresses can be assigned to customer devices in different secondary VLANs, but in the same primary VLAN. When new devices are added, the DHCP server assigns them the next available address from a large pool of subnet addresses.