September 2017
Beginner to intermediate
436 pages
12h 33m
English
Content preview from Implementing Cisco Networking Solutions
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Ethernet switch and MAC-based forwarding
An Ethernet switch has dedicated ports to which hosts are connected using physical cables. Any frame received on a port is not sent to all other hosts, but forwarded only to the hosts for which it is destined. The switch uses the MAC table to identify the port on which the frame should be forwarded. If the switch does not have the destination MAC address in its MAC tables, the switch will send the frame on all ports, resulting in a broadcast. This broadcast also happens if the Ethernet frame is destined for a broadcast MAC address. We will discuss this special case during the discussions on Address Resolution Protocol (ARP).
Hence, Ethernet switches simulate the shared medium, but drastically reduce ...