RAID question

[Pedersen]

With no "DHCP", no IP assignment. etc... you got a switch. A router more accurately is a switch and gateway. A router is just a switch with some bells and whistles (being the gateway). The router "link" port is where you connected the switch to the ISP network is simply a gateway port. Granted, a router has more sensitivity to a specific protocol (TCP/IP), due to the gateway.

DHCP, DNS forwarding, port forwarding, and many of the other function that have been bundled into consumer "router" packages are extra items, and are, strictly speaking, parts of routers. Many routers can do it. Not all. To assume that all can is dangerous, at best.

I know because I've gone through a few switches that will only work with switches of the same kind (3com for one). You can use a cross-over cable, but that don't mean it will work. It might, but I wouldn't count on it. I've gone through enough 3com switches to know how fussy they can be.

Buying the same brand of equipment is always helpful to ensure things go as smoothly as possible. I know that from much hard won experience myself. I left that out of my original post, though, as I was more going for edification than I was trying to make recommendations.

As for your "2nd layer", I believe the normal standard communication protocol for ethernet is 802.x. Some switches even have a coaxial port (at least they did back then). But I don't know why you separate it from the 1st layer, you pretty much can't have the one without the other.

I was trying to remember the Data Link layer from the OSI stack, and just couldn't do it at that hour. I'm kind of surprised you didn't go for that opportunity to correct me, especially since I asked for that one.

For everybody else, A small change to the above:
Layer 2: The encoding layer. This is where all data is actually encoded onto the wire (or air, in the case of wireless), and given certain added attributes (such as a unique address for your network card), to aid in the send/receive of data meant for your computer.

So, switches still work at layer 2. Routers still work at layer 3. And they are very different beasts, which serve very different functions. Know which one you're buying, and why. And, where possible, buy from the same vendor, it makes life easier.