MAC Address Table and Learning
The switch features a MAC address table that is capable of 8K entries. Each entry is
used to store the address information of network nodes on the network, including
MAC address, port ID, etc. This information is critical for packet filtering and
forwarding.
When one packet comes in from any port, the switch will learn the source address,
port ID, and other related information in the address table. Thus, the content of the
MAC address table updates dynamically.
Filtering and Forwarding
When a packet comes in from a particular port on the switch, the destination address is
checked against the source address learning. The switch will look up the address table
for the destination address. If not found, the packet will be forwarded to all other
ports except the port from where the packet came in. If found, and the destination
address is located at a different port than the one from which the packet came in, the
packet will be forwarded to the port where the destination address is located, based on
the information in the address table. But if the destination address is located at the
same port as the one from which the packet came in, then the packet will be filtered.
Store-and-Forward
Store-and-forward architecture is a type of packet-forwarding methodology. With the
store-and-forward function, the switch will store the complete packet in the internal
buffer and perform a complete error check before transmitting to the network.
Therefore, no error packets will disturb the network. This results in increased
efficiency and stability.
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