Data Transmission over an ELAN
12-15
Data Transmission
over an ELAN
Unicast Frames
When a LEC has established through address resolution that a certain
LAN destination corresponds to a certain LEC ATM address, and a
data-direct VCC exists to that ATM address, then a data frame addressed
to that LAN destination is forwarded via that VCC.
Unknown Unicast
Frames
When a unicast frame to be transmitted by a LEC has an unknown
address, a data-direct VCC is not yet available. In this situation, there are
two possible actions that the LEC can perform, either separately or in
combination:
Q
The unknown unicast frame can be transmitted over the
multicast-send VCC to the BUS. The BUS forwards the frame to all
LECs and their attached bridges then
flood
the frame to all bridge
ports to ensure that the frame is received at its destination.
Q
Address resolution can be performed continuously on the unknown
address until the address becomes known and a VCC can be set up.
Unknown unicast flooding mode
The 7600 Card allows these two actions to be performed in combination
according to management selection. The unknown unicast flooding mode
allows the user to specify one of the following possibilities for
transmitting unknown unicast frames by a bridge:
The number of unknown frames sent to the BUS in the time period
maximum-unknown-frame-time
is limited by the LEC parameter
maximum-unknown-frame-count
.
Table 12-5
Unknown Unicast Flooding Mode
Mode
Bridge action
No flooding
No unicast frames are sent to the BUS.
Flooding until ARP
Request
Unicast frames are sent to the BUS until the LE_ARP
request is sent.
Flooding until ARP
Response
Unicast frames are sent to the BUS until the LE_ARP
response is received.
abtthgde.book Page 15 Tuesday, June 23, 1998 10:29 AM