SVIs and "Routed" Ports

So you have this nice multiplayer switch, and want to take advantages of all of the features it has to offer. Well there are two different types of interface ports on these type of switches. SVIs (Switched Virtual Interface) and "routed" ports, fundamentally they are the same and clients/users wouldn't be able to tell if you were using/going through an SVI or a "routed" port. However they are different and in this post we'll talk about these two and when and were it would be recommended to place an SVI or a routed port.

In order to pass traffic between networks we need a router. Switches work in layer two and routers work in layer three, this separation of duties between devices works well. Doing something like Configuring Router on a Stick, is easier to troubleshoot and usually cheaper to implement. It only becomes a problem when we run out of resources like bandwidth.

Looking on the example below, we have three different networks all branching off of this router. The router has three networks configured on this interface the red network, teal network and the blue network. In order for PC1 to reach PC2 it has to use the router even through they are plugged on the same switch, they are on different VLANs, different networks. If PC1 was transferring a lot of data between PC2 it could easily tap out that router's interface. Other devices on those networks like PC3 would become bandwidth starved and struggle to get a good connection for inter-vlan connectivity.

However a multilayered switch which has usually plenty of bandwidth on its back plane and would be able to handle this easily and in this example this would be a great use case  to create and SVI interface for each network. To create an SVI:

We have to have a VLAN created first, in this example lets use 105. 

switch(config)# vlan 105
switch(config-vlan)# name RED-NETWORK
switch(config-vlan)# exit switch(config)#
We then create an interface VLAN, referencing  the VLAN we created in step one and apply an IP address and subnet mask on VLAN interface. 
switch(config)# interface vlan 105
switch(config-if)# ip address 192.168.150.1 255.255.255.0
switch(config-if)# no shutdown
switch(config-if)# exit
On the interfaces that belong to that VLAN in this example PC1 apply the VLAN and verify the interface is in switchport mode. 
switch(config)# interface ethernet 1/1
switch(config-if)# switchport
switch(config-if)# switchport mode access
switch(config-if)# switchport access vlan 105
switch(config-if)# no shutdown
switch(config-if)# exit
Here is the configuration for the TEAL Network, if we wanted to configure the BLUE network just put it into a different VLAN and separate IP network. 
switch(config)# vlan 110
switch(config-vlan)# name TEAL-NETWORK
switch(config-vlan)# exit
switch(config)# interface vlan 110
switch(config-if)# ip address 192.168.160.1 255.255.255.0
switch(config-if)# no shutdown
switch(config-if)# exit
switch(config)# interface ethernet 1/2
switch(config-if)# switchport
switch(config-if)# switchport mode access
switch(config-if)# switchport access vlan 110
switch(config-if)# exit
We can then verify that the switch has a routing table by issuing show ip route and if we also run the command show ip interface brief and you can see the interface-vlans 
switch# show ip route
IP Route Table for VRF "default"
'*' denotes best ucast next-hop
'**' denotes best mcast next-hop
'[x/y]' denotes [preference/metric]
'%' in via output denotes VRF

192.168.150.0/24, ubest/mbest: 1/0, attached
*via 192.168.150.1, Vlan105, [0/0], 00:06:03, direct
192.168.150.1/32, ubest/mbest: 1/0, attached
*via 192.168.150.1, Vlan105, [0/0], 00:06:03, local
192.168.160.0/24, ubest/mbest: 1/0, attached
*via 192.168.160.1, Vlan110, [0/0], 00:01:59, direct
192.168.160.1/32, ubest/mbest: 1/0, attached
*via 192.168.160.1, Vlan110, [0/0], 00:01:59, local

switch# show ip interface brief

IP Interface Status for VRF "default"(1)
Interface            IP Address      Interface Status
Vlan105              192.168.150.1   protocol-up/link-up/admin-up
Vlan110              192.168.160.1   protocol-up/link-up/admin-up
switch#
We can also verify that PC1 and PC2 can ping each other. PC2 pinging PC1 
PC-2> ping 192.168.150.10
192.168.150.10 icmp_seq=1 timeout
192.168.150.10 icmp_seq=2 timeout
84 bytes from 192.168.150.10 icmp_seq=3 ttl=63 time=15.258 ms
84 bytes from 192.168.150.10 icmp_seq=4 ttl=63 time=19.669 ms
84 bytes from 192.168.150.10 icmp_seq=5 ttl=63 time=19.113 ms
PC1 pinging PC2 
PC-1> ping 192.168.160.10
84 bytes from 192.168.160.10 icmp_seq=1 ttl=63 time=17.825 ms
84 bytes from 192.168.160.10 icmp_seq=2 ttl=63 time=19.710 ms
84 bytes from 192.168.160.10 icmp_seq=3 ttl=63 time=18.503 ms
84 bytes from 192.168.160.10 icmp_seq=4 ttl=63 time=18.577 ms
84 bytes from 192.168.160.10 icmp_seq=5 ttl=63 time=9.817 ms
SVI's are great for inter-vlan connectivity and for devices that are "physically" close to each other. I would shy away using an SVI when we are connecting different buildings/sites, and if we are using a some type of transit network to get from point A to point B. Using a routed port is not only easier to configure its easier to troubleshoot, we don't have worry about the problems layer two brings us, like for example redundancy and spanning-tree we just focus on layer three and the redundancies that layer three can offer us.  In this example this switch is connected to another switch with multiple links using routed ports. To create a routed port:

Go into the interface and turn off switchport and add an IP address 

switch(config)# interface ethernet 1/4
switch(config-if)# no switchport
switch(config-if)# ip address 192.168.253.1 255.255.255.252
switch(config-if)# no shutdown
switch(config-if)# exit
If you have multiple routed ports for redundancy, add another routed port with a different network. 
switch(config)# interface ethernet 1/5
switch(config-if)# no switchport
switch(config-if)# ip add 192.168.253.5 255.255.255.252
switch(config-if)# no shutdown
switch(config-if)# exit
We would do the same thing on the other side of the link and make sure our networks match so that each switch can reach other out of the two routed ports we created and in this example they can. 
switch(config)# show ip interface brief

IP Interface Status for VRF "default"(1)
Interface            IP Address      Interface Status
Eth1/4               192.168.253.2   protocol-up/link-up/admin-up
Eth1/5               192.168.253.6   protocol-up/link-up/admin-up
switch(config)#
switch(config)# ping 192.168.253.1
PING 192.168.253.1 (192.168.253.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.253.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=254 time=1.368 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.253.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=254 time=1.205 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.253.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=254 time=2.099 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.253.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=254 time=1.166 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.253.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=254 time=1.353 ms

--- 192.168.253.1 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0.00% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 1.166/1.438/2.099 ms
switch(config)# ping 192.168.253.5
PING 192.168.253.5 (192.168.253.5): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.253.5: icmp_seq=0 ttl=254 time=1.45 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.253.5: icmp_seq=1 ttl=254 time=1.28 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.253.5: icmp_seq=2 ttl=254 time=0.995 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.253.5: icmp_seq=3 ttl=254 time=1.408 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.253.5: icmp_seq=4 ttl=254 time=1.303 ms

--- 192.168.253.5 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0.00% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 0.995/1.287/1.45 ms
switch(config)#
Although you could have created an SVI for these point to point links, I don't think there's a reason. We can configure multiple static routes or using a routing protocol to handle the links if they go down and we only deal with layer three, which is keeping it simple. Like always I hope this information is helpful. -Ryan