Dell Networking SONiC OS L2 and L3 Switch Profiles

Summary: This article explains about L2 and L3 Switch Profile Configuration in Dell Networking SONiC.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.
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Instructions

Index

What is L2 and L3 switch profile in DELL SONIC?
View switch profile in switch and existing factory default
Change default switch profile
Sample output

 

What is L2 and L3 switch profile in DELL SONIC?

Dell Networking Sonic gives us the choice of two switch profiles: L2 and L3

  • L3 Switch Profiles give us a default configuration which closely resembles a Router configuration. On a fresh installation, Dell Sonic OS has L3 Switch Profiles.
  • L2 Switch Profiles give us a default configuration which closely resembles a Layer 2 switch configuration

There is no difference in configuration patterns L2 or L3 profile. It defines the default configuration of the switch if we do a factory default or interface default.

  • Use the L2 profile for scalable L2 deployments to configure a larger MAC table size.
  • Use the L3 profile for most switch deployments to configure a larger L3 table size.

 

The Number of VLAN members per system may vary between the L2 and L3 profiles depending on Switch model and DELL SONiC release. Check the compatibility matrix for more info.

 


The below table explains the core difference between L2 and L3 Profile.
L2 Profile (Layer 2 Switch) L3 Profile (Layer 3 Router)
The default Spanning tree Protocol is rapid-pvst Spanning tree is not enabled by default
Vlan 1 is present by default In the default configuration, there is no vlan
All interfaces are access port of Vlan 1 by Default All Ports are non-switchport interfaces by default
All interfaces are no-shutdown by default All interfaces are shut down by default
Increases the L2 forwarding table Increases the L3 routing table
Changing route scale UFT mode is not supported Changing route scale UFT mode is supported

 

CAUTION: When changing the default profile, the existing configuration is erased and services go down. Ensure that the change is done during a downtime and the configuration is backed up as needed.
 

View switch profile in switch and existing factory default

To view the switch-profile in the switch, use the following command.


Command Syntax
Command Explanation
admin@SONIC:~$ sonic-cli Enter Dell management framework cli
SONIC# show switch-profiles View the switch profile in switch and existing factory default

Sample Output  
SONIC# show switch-profiles 
Factory Default: l3
 
Profile Name     Description
-------------------------------------------------------------
l2               Layer 2 Switch Configuration
l3               Layer 3 Router Configuration
 
 

Change default switch profile

Use the below command to change the default profile in the switch.


Command Syntax
Command Explanation
admin@SONIC:~$ sonic-cli Enter Dell mf-cli
SONIC# configure terminal Enter configure mode
SONIC(config)# factory default profile l2 Change the default profile to l2 (Switch). Type l2 manually
SONIC(config)# factory default profile l3 Change the default profile to l3 (Router). Type l3 manually
 
 

Sample output

The below sample changes the switch to L2 Profile which is a Switching profile 
SONIC(config)# factory default profile l2
Device configuration will be erased. You may lose connectivity.
Continue? [y/N]: y                                                                               

System is not ready - Core services are down 

Applying factory default configuration.
This may take 120--180 seconds and also result in a reboot.

System is ready

The below sample changes the switch to L3 Profile which is a Routing profile 
SONIC(config)# factory default profile l3
Device configuration will be erased. You may lose connectivity.
Continue? [y/N]: y

 System is not ready - one or more services are not up 
Applying factory default configuration.
This may take 120--180 seconds and also result in a reboot.

System is ready
 

 

Affected Products

Enterprise SONiC Distribution, Dell EMC Networking N3200-ON, PowerSwitch S5212F-ON, PowerSwitch S5224F-ON, PowerSwitch S5232F-ON, PowerSwitch S5248F-ON, PowerSwitch S5296F-ON, PowerSwitch Z9100-ON, PowerSwitch Z9264F-ON, PowerSwitch Z9332F-ON , PowerSwitch Z9432F-ON, PowerScale Switch S5232F ...
Article Properties
Article Number: 000209787
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 26 Sep 2023
Version:  3
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