I think I understand these concepts, but I'm a little rusty. Can someone give a concise, easy-to-understand explanation of these concepts? The planes are logical concepts, aren't they? Is this a Cisco only thing?
783 1 1 gold badge 5 5 silver badges 17 17 bronze badges asked Feb 2, 2017 at 14:41 1,040 3 3 gold badges 9 9 silver badges 17 17 bronze badgesData plane is usually called user plane in the mobile network business. Also, the term forwarding plane is occasionally used. Because this doesn't answer the question, I posted it as a comment so that people googling for the different terms can find this question.
Commented Feb 2, 2017 at 18:30 Thanks! Very interesting. I can google this question myself, but there was no answer on this site :) Commented Feb 2, 2017 at 19:45 Also "plane" just means "layer", if you were wondering. Commented Feb 3, 2017 at 11:01 Requirements for Separation of IP Control and Forwarding should be helpful. Commented Apr 19, 2020 at 13:01These terms are abstract logical concepts, much like the OSI model.
Data plane refers to all the functions and processes that forward packets/frames from one interface to another.
Control plane refers to all the functions and processes that determine which path to use. Routing protocols (such as OSPF, ISIS, EIGRP, etc. ), spanning tree, LDP, etc are examples.
Management plane is all the functions you use to control and monitor devices.
These are mostly logical concepts but things like SDN (Software Defined Network) separate them into actual devices.
Finally, all manufacturers use these concepts.
143 6 6 bronze badges answered Feb 2, 2017 at 15:29 67.9k 5 5 gold badges 66 66 silver badges 126 126 bronze badgesanswered Feb 2, 2017 at 15:43 Ronnie Smith Ronnie Smith 4,409 1 1 gold badge 13 13 silver badges 28 28 bronze badgesForwarding Plane - Moves packets from input to output
Control Plane - Determines how packets should be forwarded
Management Plane - Methods of configuring the control plane (CLI, SNMP, etc.)
since now the link is behing a login, would be better to update answer with the archive.org version or better suggest the original resource: What the *** is SDN? (2013)
Commented Sep 30, 2022 at 5:02These are software or hardware components of the router or switch related to routing/forwarding user data/traffic from one interface to another. In the case of routers, routing table and/or forwarding table (CEF in case of Cisco) and the routing logic constitute the data plane function. MAC Address Table and Switching logic comprise the data plane in the switches.
2 --- Control Plane: In the case of a router, these are functions/components of the router which are responsible for populating the routing table/forwarding table and hence enable the data plane functions. Examples are routing protocols such as OSPF, EIGRP, BGP, IS-IS, LDP, etc.
3 --- Management Plane:
These are components of the router that are used to manage the router/switch/device that are compliant with standard protocols such as SNMP, TELNET, SSH, NETCONF,etc
4 ---- Service Plane:
I am not absolutely sure about these, but I would assume that these might be fine distinction of management plane. For example, components that are used for automatic update or OS download and upgrade functions.
Please see the following image from Cisco Site: