Layer 2 vs Layer 3

Layer 2 and Layer 3 differ mainly in the routing function. A Layer 2 switch works with MAC addresses only and does not care about IP addresses or any items of higher layers. Layer 3 switch, or multilayer switch, can do all the job of a layer 2 switch and additional static and dynamic routing. That means, a Layer 3 switch has both a MAC address table and an IP routing table and handles intra-VLAN communication and packet routing between different VLANs.