devices connect to the network either through an
Ethernet port available on the NIC or through a wireless
NIC that connects to a wireless access point that is
connected to a switch port. In the end, whether wired or
wireless, all client devices connect to Ethernet switches.
Forwarding of data traffic between devices at Layer 2 is
based on the MAC address table that is stored on each
switch within the network. The MAC address table is
dynamically built and contains a list of all the MAC
addresses that the switch has learned and the switch
ports on which it learned those addresses.
A MAC address table on a switch might look as shown in
Table 16-2.
Table 16-2 MAC Address TableVLANMAC AddressTypePorts10 001b.10a0.2500 Dynamic Gi0/120 001b.10ae.7d00 Dynamic Gi0/230 0050.7966.6705 Dynamic Gi0/3Based on this table, the switch can forward the Layer 2
data frames toward their destination. If a data frame
with MAC destination address 0050.7966.6705 arrives at
the switch with this MAC address table, the switch will
forward that frame out its GigabitEthernet0/3 port
toward the host with that specific MAC address.
The switch dynamically builds and maintains the MAC
address table and indicates where each device is