Replies (1)

• @SystemsAppr@discuss.systems 2026-04-21 00:44

  This exposed two issues: first, is there a difference between an L3 switch and a router? And second, when modern switches can be configured to forward on either the Ethernet header or the IP header, how do we best talk about them? On the first question, we ultimately decided to let context be the determining factor. Even while there is no technical difference between an L3 switch and a router, the most common usage in the datacenter context favors "switch". For ISPs, router is still the preferred term. The configurability of modern devices, especially those based on programmable forwarding silicon, means we have to be clear in our discussions to separate what a device is capable of doing versus what it is configured to do. 3/n

  Open ##2207365