How is a frame sent from PCA forwarded to PCC if the MAC address table on switch SW1 is empty?
If the MAC address table on switch SW1 is empty, the switch will rely on a process called “flooding” to forward the frame from PCA to PCC.
Flooding is a basic switching technique wherein the switch copies and sends a received frame out of all ports, except for the port it was received on.
When PCA sends a frame, it includes the MAC address of PCC as the destination MAC address. As the MAC address table on switch SW1 is empty, the switch doesn’t have an entry for the MAC address of PCC. Therefore, when the switch receives the frame from PCA, it is not able to determine which port to forward the frame to based on its MAC address table.
In this case, the switch will flood the frame out of all its ports, except the one it received the frame on. This means that the frame will be forwarded to all other connected devices, including PCC. PCC, being the intended destination and recognizing its own MAC address in the frame, will accept and process it. Other devices connected to the switch will also receive the frame, but they will ignore it since it is not intended for them.
Typically, when PCC receives the frame, it will send a response frame back to PCA. Upon receiving the response frame, the switch will examine the source MAC address and update its MAC address table accordingly, associating the MAC address of PCC with the port it received the response frame on. This allows the switch to build and maintain its MAC address table for future frame forwarding.
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