A Layer 2 switch examines a frame’s destination MAC address and forwards that frame out of the port G0/2. That action occurs as part of which plane of the switch?

(A) Data plane
(B) Management plane
(C) Control Plane
(D) None of the above

Data plane is the correct answer.

A Data plane refers to the tasks that a networking device does to forward a message. In other words, anything to do with receiving data, processing it, and forwarding that same data—whether you call the data a frame, a packet, or, more generically, a message—is part of the data plane.

The Control plane refers to any action that controls the data plane. Most of these actions have to do with creating the tables used by the data plane, tables like the IP routing table, an IP Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) table, a switch MAC address table, and so on. By adding to, removing, and changing entries to the tables used by the data plane, the control plane processes control what the data plane does.

The Management plane performs work that does not directly impact the data plane. Instead, the management plane includes protocols that allow network engineers to manage the devices. Telnet and Secure Shell (SSH) are two of the most obvious management plane protocols. To emphasize the difference with control plane protocols, think about two routers: one configured to allow Telnet and SSH into the router and one that does not. Both could still be running a routing protocol and routing packets, whether or not they support Telnet and SSH.