2 dual-personality ports; each port can be used as either an RJ-45 10/100/1000 port (IEEE 802.3 Type 10Base-T; IEEE 802.3u Type 100Base-Tx; IEEE 802.3ab 1000Base-T Gigabit Ethernet) or as a SFP slot (for use with SFP transceivers) ports

• Software-defined networking support: leverages REST APIs to enable automation of network operations, monitoring, and troubleshooting
• Supports unified wired and wireless policies: using Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager
• Switch auto-configuration: automatically configures switch for different settings such as VLAN, CoS, PoE max power, and PoE priority when an Aruba access point is detected
• User role: defines a set of switch-based policies in areas such as security, authentication, and QoS. A user role can be assigned to a group of users or devices, using local switch configuration (YA releases only).

• Traffic prioritization (IEEE 802.1p): allows for real-time traffic classification. Supports eight priority levels mapped to either two or four queues, and uses weighted deficit round robin (WDRR) or strict priority
  Simplified QoS configuration
  • Port-based: traffic prioritization by specifying a port and priority level
  • VLAN-based: traffic prioritization by specifying a VLAN and priority level
• Class of Service (CoS): sets the IEEE 802.1p priority tag based on IP address, IP Type of Service (ToS), Layer 3 protocol, TCP/UDP port number, source port, and DiffServ
• Rate limiting: establishes per-port ingress-enforced maximums for all traffic or for broadcast, multicast, or unknown destination traffic
• Layer 4 prioritization: enables priorities based on TCP/UDP port numbers
  Flow control: delivers reliable communication during full-duplex operation

• Aruba Central cloud-based management platform: offers a simple, secure and cost effective way to manage switches. Complies with RFC 7030 for encryption key enrollment
• Zero-Touch ProVisioning (ZTP): simplifies installation of the switch infrastructure using DHCP-based process with AirWave
• Choice of management interfaces
  • HTML-based easy-to-use Web GUI
    allows configuration of the switch from any Web browser
  • Robust CLI
    provides advanced configuration and diagnostics
  • Simple network management protocol (SNMPv1/v2c/v3)
    allows the switch to be managed with a variety of third-party network management applications
• Flexible management: supports both cloud-based Central and on-premise AirWave without ripping and replacing switching infrastructure
• Virtual stacking: provides single IP address management for up to 16 switches
• sFlow (RFC 3176): delivers wire-speed traffic accounting and monitoring, configured by SNMP and CLI with three terminal encrypted receivers
• IEEE 802.1AB Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP): automates device discovery protocol for easy mapping by network management applications
• Provides local and remote logging of events: via SNMP (v2c and v3) and syslog; provides log throttling and log filtering to reduce the number of log events generated
• Port mirroring: allows traffic to be mirrored on any port or a network analyzer to assist with diagnostics or detecting network attacks
• Remote monitoring (RMON): provides advanced monitoring and reporting capabilities for statistics, history, alarms, and events
• Find, fix, and inform: finds and fixes common network problems automatically, and then informs the administrator
• Friendly port names: allows assignment of descriptive names to ports
• Dual flash images: provides independent primary and secondary operating system files for backup while upgrading
• Multiple configuration files: are easily stored with a flash image
• Front-panel LEDs
  • Locator LEDs: allows users to set the locator LED on a specific switch to turn on, blink, or turn off; and simplifies troubleshooting by making it easy to locate a particular switch within a rack of similar switches
  • Per-port LEDs: provides an at-a-glance view of the status, activity, speed, and full-duplex operation
  • Power and fault LEDs: display issues, if any

• VLANs: supports 512 VLANs and 4,094 VLAN IDs
• Jumbo packet support: improves the performance of large data transfers; supports frame size of up to 9,220 bytes
• 16K MAC address table: provides access to many Layer 2 devices
• GARP VLAN Registration Protocol: allows automatic learning and dynamic assignment of VLANs
• Rapid Per-VLAN Spanning Tree (RPVST+): allows each VLAN to build a separate spanning tree to improve link bandwidth usage; is compatible with PVST+

• Access control lists (ACLs): accommodate IPv4/IPv6 port and VLAN-based ACLs (IPv6 ACL is supported only on Gigabit Ethernet and 48-port models.)
• Source-port filtering: allows only specified ports to communicate with each other
• RADIUS/TACACS+: eases switch management security administration by using a password authentication server
• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL): encrypts all HTTP traffic, allowing secure access to the browser-based management GUI in the switch
• Port security: allows access only to specified MAC addresses, which can be learned or specified by the administrator
• MAC address lockout: prevents particular configured MAC addresses from connecting to the network
• Multiple user authentication methods
  • IEEE 802.1X: uses an IEEE 802.1X supplicant on the client in conjunction with a RADIUS server to authenticate in accordance with industry standards
  • Web-based authentication: provides a browser-based environment, similar to IEEE 802.1X, to authenticate clients that do not support the IEEE 802.1X supplicant
  • Supports MAC-based authentication: using the client’s MAC address
• Secure shell (SSH) v2: encrypts all transmitted data for secure remote CLI access over IP networks
• STP BPDU port protection: blocks Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDUs) on ports that do not require BPDUs, preventing forged BPDU attacks
• STP root guard: protects the root bridge from malicious attacks or configuration mistakes
• Secure management access: delivers secure encryption of all access methods (CLI, GUI, or MIB) through SSHv2 and SNMPv3
• Custom banner: displays security policy when users log in to the switch
• Secure FTP: allows secure file transfer to and from the switch; protects against unwanted file downloads or unauthorized copying of a switch configuration file
• Protected ports CLI: offers intuitive CLI to configure the source-port filter feature, by allowing specified ports to be isolated from all other ports on the switch; the protected port or ports can communicate only with the uplink or shared resources
• Authentication flexibility
  • Multiple IEEE 802.1X users per port: provides authentication for up to eight IEEE 802.1X users per port; prevents a user from “piggybacking” on another user’s IEEE 802.1X authentication
  • Concurrent IEEE 802.1X, Web or MAC authentication schemes per port: allows a switch port to accept IEEE 802.1X and either Web or MAC authentications
• Switch management logon security: helps secure switch CLI logon by optionally requiring either RADIUS or TACACS+ authentication
• DHCP protection: blocks DHCP packets from unauthorized DHCP servers, preventing denial-of-service attacks
• Dynamic ARP protection: blocks ARP broadcasts from unauthorized hosts, preventing eavesdropping or theft of network data
• Dynamic IP lockdown: works with DHCP protection to block traffic from unauthorized hosts, preventing IP source address spoofing
• MAC Pinning: allows non-chatty legacy devices to stay authenticated by pinning client MAC addresses to the port until the clients logoff or get disconnected

• LLDP-MED (Media Endpoint Discovery): defines a standard extension of LLDP that stores values for parameters such as QoS and VLAN to automatically configure network devices such as IP phones
• IEEE 802.1AB Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP): facilitates easy mapping using network management applications with LLDP automated device discovery protocol
• PoE and PoE+ allocations: support multiple methods (automatic, IEEE 802.3at dynamic, LLDP-MED fine grain, IEEE 802.3af device class or user-specified), to allocate and manage PoE/PoE+ power for more energy savings
• Voice VLAN: uses LLDP-MED to automatically configure a VLAN for IP phones
• IP multicast (IGMP): prevents flooding of IP multicast traffic
• LLDP-CDP compatibility: receives and recognizes CDP packets from Cisco’s IP phones for seamless interoperation
• Local MAC Authentication: assigns attributes such as VLAN and QoS using locally configured profile that can be a list of MAC prefixes

• Port trunking and link aggregation
  • Trunking: supports up to eight links per trunk to increase bandwidth and create redundant connections; and supports L2, L3, and L4 trunk load-balancing algorithm (L4 trunk load balancing is supported only on Gigabit Ethernet and 48-port models.)
  • IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP): eases configuration of trunks through automatic configuration
• IEEE 802.1s Multiple Spanning Tree: provides high link availability in multiple VLAN environments by allowing multiple spanning trees; provides legacy support for IEEE 802.1d and IEEE 802.1w
• SmartLink: provides easy-to-configure link redundancy of active and standby links

• Power savings with energy-efficient design
  • IEEE 802.3az: reduces power consumption during periods of low data activity on Gigabit Ethernet switches
  • Port low power mode: enables the port to automatically go into low-power mode to conserve energy when no link is detected
  • Fanless and variable-speed fans: decrease power consumption in fanless (all 8-port, 2530-24, and 2530-48 PoE+ switches) as well as variable-speed fan switches
  • Port LEDs: conserves energy by optionally turning off port link and activity LEDs
• Switch on a chip: provides a highly integrated, high-performance switch design with a non-blocking architecture