Network Switching Overview Flashcards
What does a switch do?
A switch is responsible for forwarding/dropping frames on the network based on the destination MAC address
- Gathers a constantly updating list of MAC addresses.
- Maintains a loop-free environment using Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
How do switches learn MAC addresses?
If an unknown device (MAC Address) tries to send data to the switch, the switch will assign that unknown MAC Address an output interface, and make note of it’s MAC address to it’s table.
Basically, switches examine incoming traffic and makes notes of the source MAC address.
What happens when a MAC address destination comes into a switch and the switch has nowhere to send it?
When in doubt, the switch sends the frame to everyone. The ones that receive the frame who aren’t supposed to will delete the frame. They know to do this because their MAC addresses aren’t designated by the sender frame.
What is address resolution protocol?
The function is to determine a MAC address based on an IP address.
