Operation Manual – MAC Address TableH3C S7500 Series Ethernet Switches Chapter 1 MAC Address Table Management1-1Chapter 1 MAC Address Table ManagementWhen configuring MAC address table management, go to these sections forinformation you are interested in:z Overviewz Configuring MAC Address Table Managementz Displaying MAC Address Configurationz Configuration ExampleNote:This chapter describes the management of static and dynamic MAC address entries.For information on the management of multicast MAC address entries, refer to thesection related to multicast protocol in H3C S7500 Series Ethernet Switches OperationManual.1.1 Overview1.1.1 Introduction to MAC Address LearningAn Ethernet switch maintains a MAC address table to forward packets quickly. A MACaddress table is a port-based Layer 2 address table. It is the base for Ethernet switch toperform Layer 2 packet forwarding. Each entry in a MAC address table contains thefollowing fields:z Destination MAC addressz ID of the VLAN which a port belongs toz Forwarding port numberUpon receiving a packet, a switch queries its MAC address table for the forwarding portnumber according to the destination MAC address carried in the packet and thenforwards the packet through the port.The dynamic address entries (not configured manually) in the MAC address table arelearned by the Ethernet switch. When an Ethernet switch learns a MAC address, thefollowing occurs:When a switch receives a packet from one of its ports (referred to as Port 1), the switchextracts the source MAC address (referred to as MAC-SOURCE) of the packet andconsiders that the packets destined for MAC-SOURCE can be forwarded through Port1.
