Cabletron Systems SPECTRUM, User Manual

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The Filtering Database Window 6-15
Using the 7C0x SmartSwitch Bridge View
Learned Entry Discards
The number of database entries that never made it into the Filtering Database due
to a lack of buffer space. Ideally, this number should be 0. If this number grows, it
indicates a very busy network. A value other than 0 is acceptable as long as it isn’t
increasing, indicating that the lack of buffer space is sometimes causing problems,
but that the condition is not persistent.
For each entry in the Forwarding database, the window displays the following:
Source Address
Displays the MAC addresses of devices that have transmitted frames to the
bridge.
Port
Identifies the bridge port where frames from the noted source address are
received. A value of 0 indicates that the address exists within the Filtering
Database, but the database has not yet learned the corresponding port number.
Status
Indicates how the entry got into the database:
• learned —The address was copied into the database from the source address
field of a received frame.
• self —Identifies one of the bridge ports.
• management —Indicates an entry that was entered into the database manually.
The status field of all static entries in the Forwarding Table will display
management
.
• invalid —The entry is a learned entry that has aged out, but has not yet been
flushed from the table.
• other —The bridge is unable to determine the entry’s status.
The information displayed for the Static database is somewhat different; for each
entry, the window displays the following:
Source Address
Displays the MAC addresses of devices that have transmitted frames to the
bridge.
Receive Port
Displays the port on which a packet with the specified source address must be
received in order for the filtering actions specified in the Destination Port field to
take place. A setting of 0 will apply the filtering action anytime a packet with the
specified source address is received by any of the bridge ports.