Hello,
usually ports on the L2 switches (I don't know agbout L3) can be configured in the following modes: access, hybrid or trunk (I think, terminology may vary among the different vendors). The IEEE 802.1q standard actually mentiones about these three modes somewhere in appendix, so I think this is not really a mandatory part so that every switch must follow?
Furthemore, are these modes purely software concepts or they can, and usually are, implemented on a real hardware?
Thanks !
Mark