Chapter 2 Managing Source Learning; In This Chapter - Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch 6850-48 Network Configuration Manual

Transparent bridging relies on a process referred to as source learning to handle traffic flow. Network
devices communicate by sending and receiving data packets that each contain a source MAC address and a
destination MAC address. When packets are received on switch network interface (NI) module ports,
source learning examines each packet and compares the source MAC address to entries in a MAC address
database table. If the table does not contain an entry for the source address, then a new record is created
associating the address with the port it was learned on. If an entry for the source address already exists in
the table, a new one is not created.
Packets are also filtered to determine if the source and destination address are on the same LAN segment.
If the destination address is not found in the MAC address table, then the packet is forwarded to all other
switches that are connected to the same LAN. If the MAC address table does contain a matching entry for
the destination address, then there is no need to forward the packet to the rest of the network.

In This Chapter

This chapter describes how to manage source learning entries in the switch MAC address table (often
referred to as the forwarding or filtering database) through the Command Line Interface (CLI). CLI
commands are used in the configuration examples; for more details about the syntax of commands, see the
OmniSwitch CLI Reference Guide.
Configuration procedures described in this chapter include:
•
"Using Static MAC Addresses" on page
•
"Using Static Multicast MAC Addresses" on page 2-7
•
"Configuring MAC Address Table Aging Time" on page
•
"Increasing the MAC Address Table Size" on page 2-10
•
"Displaying Source Learning Information" on page
OmniSwitch AOS Release 6 Network Configuration Guide
2 Managing Source
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Learning
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