Dell PowerConnect 7048P User Manual - Page 837

29 Managing the MAC Address Table This chapter describes the L2 MAC address table the switch uses to forward data between ports. The topics covered in this chapter include: • MAC Address Table Overview • Default MAC Address Table Values • Managing the MAC Address Table (Web) • Managing the MAC Address Table (CLI) MAC Address Table Overview The MAC address table keeps track of the MAC addresses that are associated with each port to allow the switch to forward unicast traffic through the appropriate port. This table is sometimes called the bridge table or the forwarding database. How Is the Address Table Populated? The MAC address table can contain two types of addresses: • Static: The address has been manually configured and does not age out. • Dynamic: The address has been automatically learned by the switch and can age out when it is not in use. Static addresses are configured by the administrator and added to the table. Dynamic addresses are learned by examining information in the Ethernet frame. When a frame arrives on a port, the switch looks at the frame header to learn the source MAC address of the frame, then adds the address, VLAN ID, and the ingress port to the MAC address table. The address table is constantly updated as new addresses are learned, and unused addresses age out. A frame that has a destination MAC address that matches an entry in the table is forwarded immediately to the associated port(s)/VLAN(s). Managing the MAC Address Table 837