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MAC Table Configuration
171
seconds here is the default aging time for MAC address entry in switch. Aging time
can be modified in switch.
18.1.2
Forward or Filter
The switch will forward or filter received data frames according to the MAC table.
Take the above figure as an example, assuming switch have learnt the MAC address of
PC1 and PC3, and the user manually configured the mapping relationship for PC2 and
PC4 to ports. The MAC table of switch will be:
MAC Address
Port number
Entry added by
00-01-11-11-11-11
1/0/5
Dynamic learning
00-01-22-22-22-22
1/0/5
Static configuration
00-01-33-33-33-33
1/0/12
Dynamic learning
00-01-44-44-44-44
1/0/12
Static configuration
1
.
Forward data according to the MAC table
If PC1 sends a message to PC3, the switch will forward the data received on port
1/0/5 from port1/0/12.
2
.
Filter data according to the MAC table
If PC1 sends a message to PC2, the switch, on checking the MAC table, will find PC2
and PC1 are in the same physical segment and filter the message (i.e. drop this
message).
Three types of frames can be forwarded by the switch:
Broadcast frame
Multicast frame
Unicast frame
The following describes how the switch deals with all the three types of frames:
1
.
Broadcast frame: The switch can segregate collision domains but not broadcast
domains. If no VLAN is set, all devices connected to the switch are in the same
broadcast domain. When the switch receives a broadcast frame, it forwards the
frame in all ports. When VLANs are configured in the switch, the MAC table will
be adapted accordingly to add VLAN information. In this case, the switch will not
forward the received broadcast frames in all ports, but forward the frames in all
ports in the same VLAN.
2
.
Multicast frame: For the unknown multicast, the switch will broadcast it in the
same vlan, but the switch only forwards the multicast frames to the multicast
group‘s port if IGMP Snooping function or the static multicast group has been
configured.
3
.
Unicast frame: When no VLAN is configured, if the destination MAC addresses