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Interface management configuration
NOTE:
Support for interface types varies with device models.
An interface is the point of interaction or communication used for exchanging data between entities.
There are two types of interfaces: physical and logical. A physical interface refers to an interface that
physically exists as a hardware component. An example is Ethernet interfaces. A logical interface refers
to an interface that can implement data switching but does not exist physically. A logical interface must
be created manually. An example is a VLAN interface.
You can use the interface management feature on the web-based configuration interface to manage the
following types of interfaces.
• Layer 2 Ethernet interface: A physical interface operating on the data link layer for forwarding
Layer 2 protocol packets.
• WLAN radio interface: A physical interface used for providing wireless access service. A WLAN
radio interface can be bound with a WLAN-BSS interface, or a WLAN Ethernet interface.
• Loopback interface: A software-only virtual interface. The physical layer state and link layer
protocols of a loopback interface are always up unless the loopback interface is manually shut
down. You can enable routing protocols on a loopback interface, and a loopback interface can
send and receive routing protocol packets. When you assign an IPv4 address whose mask is not
32-bit, the system automatically changes the mask into a 32-bit mask.
• Null interface: A software-only virtual interface. A null interface is always up. It cannot forward
packets or be configured with an IP address or any link-layer protocol. However, you cannot use it
to forward data packets or configure an IP address or link layer protocol on it. With a null interface
specified as the next hop of a static route to a specific network segment, any packets routed to the
network segment are dropped. The null interface provides a simpler way to filter packets than ACL.
You can filter uninteresting traffic by transmitting it to a null interface instead of applying an ACL.
• VLAN interface: A virtual Layer 3 interface used for Layer 3 communications between VLANs. A
VLAN interface corresponds to a VLAN. You can assign an IP address to a VLAN interface and
specify it as the gateway of the corresponding VLAN to forward traffic destined for an IP network
segment different from that of the VLAN.
• Dialer interface: A logical interface for dialup services. You can bind a physical interface (such as
a serial, BRI, or Async interface) to a dialer interface to inherit the configuration information of the
dialer interface. The baud rate of a dialer interface is fixed at 64000 bps.
With the interface management feature, you can view interface information, create/remove logical
interfaces, change interface status, and reset interface parameters.
Displaying interface information and statistics
1. Select Device > Interface from the navigation tree.
The interface management page appears. The page displays the interfaces' names, IP addresses,
masks, and status.
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