You are the Cisco Network Designer in testking.com. In your company site, a NAS is both physically and logically in the traffic path. The NAS identifies clients solely based on their MAC addresses…

In Layer 2 mode, the NAS is inserted directly into the network path at the data link layer, making it both physically and logically inline. Because MAC addresses are Layer 2 identifiers, using them as the sole client identification method is characteristic of Layer 2 operation, where the NAS can inspect and enforce policy on frames before they are routed.

Layer 3 mode uses IP addresses for client identification and typically operates as a routed hop, not purely inline at the MAC level.

Layer 3 In-Band mode refers to an inline Layer 3 routed deployment using IP-based identification, not MAC-based.

Layer 2 Edge mode places the NAS at the network edge but is not the standard term for an inline MAC-identifying deployment.