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How does a switch operate?
A Layer 2 switch uses some features of the Data Link layer in OSI model to forward the packet to
the destination port(s). Here we introduce some important features of a switch and how they work.
MAC address table
When a packet is received on a port of switch, the switch first checks if the packet is good or bad
and extracts the source MAC address (SA) and destination MAC address (DA) to find 1) if SA is existed in
the MAC address table, if no, puts it in the MAC address table, if yes, 2) looks up DA and its associated
port to which the traffic is forwarded. If DA does not exist, have the packet broadcasted.
Due to the size of the MAC address, MAC address aging function is applied. When the MAC
address has resided and keeps no update in the table for a long time, this means the traffic using that
entry has yet come for a while. If this time period is more than the aging time, the entry will be marked
invalid. The vacancy is now available for other new MAC.
Both learning and forwarding are the most important functions in a switch. Besides that, VLAN can
be one of the rules to forward the packet. The ingress rule and egress rules can be applied. The ingress
rule is used to filter the incoming packet by VLAN ID and to decide whether the packet is allowed to enter
the switch or not. The egress rule is used to forward the packet to the proper port.
Fig. 3-6