Cisco Networking Academy's Introduction to
Switched Networks
Sample Chapter is provided courtesy of Cisco Press.
Date: Apr 3, 2014.
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Chapter Information
Contents
1. Objectives
2. Key Terms
3. Introduction ([Link])
4. LAN Design (1.1)
5. The Switched Environment (1.2)
6. Summary (1.3)
7. Practice
8. Class Activities
9. Packet Tracer Activities
10. Check Your Understanding Questions
Chapter Description
This chapter begins an examination of the flow of traffic in a modern network. It examines some
of the current network design models and the way LAN switches build forwarding tables and use
the MAC address information to efficiently switch data between hosts.
From the Book
Routing and Switching Essentials Companion Guide
$60.00 (Save 10%)
The Switched Environment (1.2)
One of the most exciting functions of networking is the switched environment because
businesses are always adding devices to the wired network, and they will do so through a switch.
Learning how switches operate is important to someone entering the networking profession.
Frame Forwarding (1.2.1)
On Ethernet networks, frames contain a source MAC address and a destination MAC address.
Switches receive a frame from the source device and quickly forward it toward the destination
device.
Switching as a General Concept in Networking and Telecommunications ([Link])
The concept of switching and forwarding frames is universal in networking and
telecommunications. Various types of switches are used in LANs, WANs, and the public
switched telephone network (PSTN). The fundamental concept of switching refers to a device
making a decision based on two criteria:
Ingress port
Destination address
The decision on how a switch forwards traffic is made in relation to the flow of that traffic. The
term ingress is used to describe a frame entering a device on a specific port. The term egress is
used to describe frames leaving the device through a particular port.
When a switch makes a decision, it is based on the ingress port and the destination address of the
message.
A LAN switch maintains a table that it uses to determine how to forward traffic through the
switch.
Activity [Link]: LAN Switch Forwarding Operation
Go to the course online to see an animation of how a switch forwards a frame based on the
destination MAC address. Click the Play button to begin.
In the animated example:
If a message enters switch port 1 and has a destination address of EA, then the switch
forwards the traffic out port 4.
If a message enters switch port 5 and has a destination address of EE, then the switch
forwards the traffic out port 1.
If a message enters switch port 3 and has a destination address of AB, then the switch
forwards the traffic out port 6.
The only intelligence of the LAN switch is its capability to use its table to forward traffic based
on the ingress port and the destination address of a message. With a LAN switch, there is only
one master switching table that describes a strict association between addresses and ports;
therefore, a message with a given destination address always exits the same egress port,
regardless of the ingress port it enters.
Cisco LAN switches forward Ethernet frames based on the destination MAC address of the
frames.
Dynamically Populating a Switch MAC Address Table ([Link])
Switches use MAC addresses to direct network communications through the switch to the
appropriate outbound port toward the destination. A switch is made up of integrated circuits and
accompanying software that controls the data paths through the switch. For a switch to know
which port to use to transmit a frame, it must first learn which devices exist on each port. As the
switch learns the relationship of ports to devices, it builds a table called a MAC address table, or
content addressable memory (CAM) table. CAM is a special type of memory used in high-speed
searching applications.
LAN switches determine how to handle incoming data frames by maintaining the MAC address
table. A switch builds its MAC address table by recording the MAC address of each device
connected to each of its ports. The switch uses the information in the MAC address table to send
frames destined for a specific device out the port, which has been assigned to that device.
An easy way to remember how a switch operates is the following saying: A switch learns on
source and forwards based on destination. This means that a switch populates the MAC
address table based on source MAC addresses. As frames enter the switch, the switch learns
the source MAC address of the received frame and adds the MAC address to the MAC address
table or refreshes the age timer of an existing MAC address table entry.
To forward the frame, the switch examines the destination MAC address and compares it to
addresses found in the MAC address table. If the address is in the table, the frame is forwarded
out the port associated with the MAC address in the table. When the destination MAC address is
not found in the MAC address table, the switch forwards the frame out of all ports (flooding)
except for the ingress port of the frame. In networks with multiple interconnected switches, the
MAC address table contains multiple MAC addresses for a single port connected to the other
switches.
The following steps describe the process of building the MAC address table:
Step 1. The switch receives a frame from PC 1 on Port 1 (Figure 1-13).
Figure 1-13 Building a MAC Address Table: PC1 Sends Frame to Port 1
Step 2. The switch examines the source MAC address and compares it to the MAC address table.
If the address is not in the MAC address table, it associates the source MAC address of
PC 1 with the ingress port (Port 1) in the MAC address table (Figure 1-14).
Figure 1-14 Building a MAC Address Table: S1 Adds MAC Address Heard Through Port
1
If the MAC address table already has an entry for that source address, it resets the aging
timer. An entry for a MAC address is typically kept for five minutes.
Step 3. After the switch has recorded the source address information, the switch examines the
destination MAC address.
If the destination address is not in the MAC table or if its a broadcast MAC address, as
indicated by all Fs, the switch floods the frame to all ports, except the ingress port (Figure
1-15).
Figure 1-15 Building a MAC Address Table: S1 Broadcasts the Frame
Step 4. The destination device (PC 3) replies to the frame with a unicast frame addressed to PC 1
(Figure 1-16).
Figure 1-16 Building a MAC Address Table: PC3 Sends a Reply Frame
Step 5. The switch enters the source MAC address of PC 3 and the port number of the ingress
port into the address table. The destination address of the frame and its associated egress port is
found in the MAC address table (Figure 1-17).
Figure 1-17 Building a MAC Address Table: S1 Adds the MAC Address for PC3
Step 6. The switch can now forward frames between these source and destination devices
without flooding because it has entries in the address table that identify the associated ports
(Figure 1-18).
Figure 1-18 Building a MAC Address Table: S1 Sends the Frame to Port 1
Switch Forwarding Methods ([Link])
Commonly, in earlier networks, as they grew, enterprises began to experience slower network
performance. Ethernet bridges (an early version of a switch) were added to networks to limit the
size of the collision domains. In the 1990s, advancements in integrated circuit technologies
allowed for LAN switches to replace Ethernet bridges. These LAN switches were able to move
the Layer 2 forwarding decisions from software to application-specific-integrated circuits
(ASICs). ASICs reduce the packet-handling time within the device, and allow the device to
handle an increased number of ports without degrading performance. This method of forwarding
data frames at Layer 2 was referred to as store-and-forward switching. This term distinguished it
from cut-through switching.
As shown in the online video, the store-and-forward method makes a forwarding decision on a
frame after it has received the entire frame and then checked the frame for errors.
Video [Link]: Store-and-Forward Switching
Go to the course online to see an animation of how a store-and-forward switch works.
By contrast, the cut-through switching method, as shown in the online video, begins the
forwarding process after the destination MAC address of an incoming frame and the egress port
has been determined.
Video [Link]: Cut-Through Switching
Go to the course online. Click on the second graphic to see an animation of how a cut-through
switch works.
Store-and-Forward Switching ([Link])
Store-and-forward switching has two primary characteristics that distinguish it from cut-through:
error checking and automatic buffering.
Error Checking
A switch using store-and-forward switching performs an error check on an incoming frame. After
receiving the entire frame on the ingress port, as shown in Figure 1-19, the switch compares the
frame-check-sequence (FCS) value in the last field of the datagram against its own FCS
calculations. The FCS is an error checking process that helps to ensure that the frame is free of
physical and data-link errors. If the frame is error-free, the switch forwards the frame. Otherwise,
the frame is dropped.
Figure 1-19 Store-and-Forward Switching
Automatic Buffering
The ingress port buffering process used by store-and-forward switches provides the flexibility to
support any mix of Ethernet speeds. For example, handling an incoming frame traveling into a
100 Mb/s Ethernet port that must be sent out a 1 Gb/s interface would require using the storeand-forward method. With any mismatch in speeds between the ingress and egress ports, the
switch stores the entire frame in a buffer, computes the FCS check, forwards the frame to the
egress port buffer and then sends the frame.
Store-and-forward switching is Ciscos primary LAN switching method.
A store-and-forward switch drops frames that do not pass the FCS check, therefore it does not
forward invalid frames. By contrast, a cut-through switch may forward invalid frames because
no FCS check is performed.
Cut-Through Switching ([Link])
An advantage to cut-through switching is the capability of the switch to start forwarding a frame
earlier than store-and-forward switching. There are two primary characteristics of cut-through
switching: rapid frame forwarding and invalid frame processing.
Rapid Frame Forwarding
As indicated in Figure 1-20, a switch using the cut-through method can make a forwarding
decision as soon as it has looked up the destination MAC address of the frame in its MAC
address table. The switch does not have to wait for the rest of the frame to enter the ingress port
before making its forwarding decision.
Figure 1-20 Cut-Through Switching
With todays MAC controllers and ASICs, a switch using the cut-through method can quickly
decide whether it needs to examine a larger portion of a frames headers for additional filtering
purposes. For example, the switch can analyze past the first 14 bytes (the source MAC address,
destination MAC, and the EtherType fields), and examine an additional 40 bytes in order to
perform more sophisticated functions relative to IPv4 Layers 3 and 4.
The cut-through switching method does not drop most invalid frames. Frames with errors are
forwarded to other segments of the network. If there is a high error rate (invalid frames) in the
network, cut-through switching can have a negative impact on bandwidth; thus, clogging up
bandwidth with damaged and invalid frames.
Fragment Free
Fragment free switching is a modified form of cut-through switching in which the switch waits
for the collision window (64 bytes) to pass before forwarding the frame. This means each frame
will be checked into the data field to make sure no fragmentation has occurred. Fragment free
mode provides better error checking than cut-through, with practically no increase in latency.
With a lower latency speed advantage of cut-through switching, it is more appropriate for
extremely demanding, high-performance computing (HPC) applications that require process-toprocess latencies of 10 microseconds or less.
Activity [Link]: Frame Forwarding Methods
Go to the online course to indicate whether each given action is performed by store-and-forward
or cut-through switching. Use the online curriculum to check your answer.
Activity [Link]: Switch It!
Go to the course outline to perform this practice activity where you have multiple scenarios of
frames going through a switch. Select how the switch will handle the frame.
Switching Domains (1.2.2)
Two commonly misunderstood terms used with switching are collision domains and broadcast
domains. This section tries to explain these two important concepts that affect LAN performance.
Collision Domains ([Link])
In hub-based Ethernet segments, network devices compete for the medium, because devices must
take turns when transmitting. The network segments that share the same bandwidth between
devices are known as collision domains, because when two or more devices within that segment
try to communicate at the same time, collisions may occur.
It is possible, however, to use networking devices such as switches, which operate at the data
link layer of the OSI model to divide a network into segments and reduce the number of devices
that compete for bandwidth. Each port on a switch is a new segment because the devices plugged
into the ports do not compete with each other for bandwidth. The result is that each port
represents a new collision domain. More bandwidth is available to the devices on a segment, and
collisions in one collision domain do not interfere with the other segments. This is also known as
microsegmentation.
As shown in the Figure 1-21, each switch port connects to a single PC or server, and each switch
port represents a separate collision domain.
Figure 1-21 Collision Domains
Broadcast Domains ([Link])
Although switches filter most frames based on MAC addresses, they do not filter broadcast
frames. For other switches on the LAN to receive broadcast frames, switches must flood these
frames out all ports. A collection of interconnected switches forms a single broadcast domain. A
network layer device, such as a router, can divide a Layer 2 broadcast domain. Routers are used
to segment both collision and broadcast domains.
When a device sends a Layer 2 broadcast, the destination MAC address in the frame is set to all
binary ones. A frame with a destination MAC address of all binary ones is received by all devices
in the broadcast domain.
The Layer 2 broadcast domain is referred to as the MAC broadcast domain. The MAC broadcast
domain consists of all devices on the LAN that receive broadcast frames from a host.
Activity [Link]: Broadcast Domains
Go to the online curriculum, and click Play to see this in the first half of the animation.
Watch how a switch broadcasts a frame out all ports except the port that received the frame.
When a switch receives a broadcast frame, the switch forwards the frame out each of the switch
ports, except the ingress port where the broadcast frame was received. Each device connected to
the switch receives a copy of the broadcast frame and processes it, as shown in the top broadcast
domain in Figure 1-22. Broadcasts are sometimes necessary for initially locating other devices
and network services, but they also reduce network efficiency. Network bandwidth is used to
propagate the broadcast traffic. Too many broadcasts and a heavy traffic load on a network can
result in congestion: a slowdown in the network performance.
Figure 1-22 Broadcast Domains
When two switches are connected together, the broadcast domain is increased, as seen in the
second (bottom) broadcast domain shown in Figure 1-22. In this case, a broadcast frame is
forwarded to all connected ports on switch S1. Switch S1 is connected to switch S2. The frame is
then also propagated to all devices connected to switch S2.
Alleviating Network Congestion ([Link])
LAN switches have special characteristics that make them effective at alleviating network
congestion. First, they allow the segmentation of a LAN into separate collision domains. Each
port of the switch represents a separate collision domain and provides the full bandwidth to the
device or devices that are connected to that port. Second, they provide full-duplex
communication between devices. A full-duplex connection can carry transmitted and received
signals at the same time. Full-duplex connections have dramatically increased LAN network
performance and are required for 1 Gb/s Ethernet speeds and higher.
Switches interconnect LAN segments (collision domains), use a table of MAC addresses to
determine the segment to which the frame is to be sent, and can lessen or eliminate collisions
entirely. Table 1-2 shows some important characteristics of switches that contribute to alleviating
network congestion.
Table 1-2 Switch Characteristics That Help with Congestion
Characteristic
Explanation
High port density Switches have high-port densities: 24- and 48-port switches are often just 1
Characteristic
Explanation
rack unit (1.75 inches) in height and operate at speeds of 100 Mb/s, 1 Gb/s,
and 10 Gb/s. Large enterprise switches may support hundreds of ports.
Large frame
buffers
The ability to store more received frames before having to start dropping them
is useful, particularly when there may be congested ports to servers or other
parts of the network.
Port speed
Depending on the cost of a switch, it may be possible to support a mixture of
speeds. Ports of 100 Mb/s and 1 or 10 Gb/s are common. (100 Gb/s is also
possible.)
Fast internal
switching
Having fast internal forwarding capabilities allows high performance. The
method that is used may be a fast internal bus or shared memory, which
affects the overall performance of the switch.
Low per-port cost Switches provide high-port density at a lower cost. For this reason, LAN
switches can accommodate network designs featuring fewer users per
segment, therefore, increasing the average available bandwidth per user.
Activity [Link]: Circle the Domain
Go to the online course to view nine network topologies. On each graphic, draw a circle around
the devices that make up each broadcast or collision domain as directed.
6. Summary (1.3) | Next Section Previous Section
Cisco Networking Academy's Introduction to
Switched Networks
By Cisco Networking Academy.
Sample Chapter is provided courtesy of Cisco Press.
Save
Date: Apr 3, 2014.
Digg [Link]
Print Email
Chapter Information
Contents
1. Objectives
2. Key Terms
3. Introduction ([Link])
4. LAN Design (1.1)
5. The Switched Environment (1.2)
6. Summary (1.3)
7. Practice
8. Class Activities
9. Packet Tracer Activities
10. Check Your Understanding Questions
Chapter Description
This chapter begins an examination of the flow of traffic in a modern network. It examines some
of the current network design models and the way LAN switches build forwarding tables and use
the MAC address information to efficiently switch data between hosts.
From the Book
Routing and Switching Essentials Companion Guide
$60.00 (Save 10%)
Summary (1.3)
Class Activity [Link]: Its Network Access Time
Use Packet Tracer for this activity. Internet connectivity is not required in this design. Work with
a classmate to create two network designs to accommodate the following scenarios:
Scenario 1 Classroom Design (LAN)
15 student end devices represented by 1 or 2 PCs
1 instructor end device preferably represented by a server
Stream video presentations over a LAN connection
Scenario 2 Administrative Design (WAN)
All requirements as listed in Scenario 1
Access to and from a remote administrative server for video presentations and pushed
updates for network application software
Both the LAN and WAN designs should fit on to one Packet Tracer file screen. All intermediary
devices should be labeled with the switch model (or name) and the router model (or name).
Save your work and be ready to justify your device decisions and layout to your instructor and
the class.
Activity [Link]: Basic Switch Configurations
Configuring switches is a common practice for LAN technicians, and practice is the key to
becoming proficient. This Syntax Checker activity reviews basic switch configurations from the
first course.
Go to the course outline to perform this practice activity.
Packet Tracer Activity [Link]: Skills Integration Challenge
As a recently hired LAN technician, your network manager has asked you to demonstrate your
ability to configure a small LAN. Your tasks include configuring initial settings on two switches
using the Cisco IOS and configuring IP address parameters on host devices to provide end-to-end
connectivity. You are to use two switches and two hosts/PCs on a cabled and powered network.
We have seen that the trend in networks is toward convergence using a single set of wires and
devices to handle voice, video, and data transmission. In addition, there has been a dramatic shift
in the way businesses operate. No longer are employees constrained to physical offices or by
geographic boundaries. Resources must now be seamlessly available anytime and anywhere. The
Cisco Borderless Network architecture enables different elements, from access switches to
wireless access points, to work together and allow users to access resources from any place at
any time.
The traditional three-layer hierarchical design model divides the network into core, distribution,
and access layers, and allows each portion of the network to be optimized for specific
functionality. It provides modularity, resiliency, and flexibility, which provides a foundation that
allows network designers to overlay security, mobility, and unified communication features. In
some networks, having a separate core and distribution layer is not required. In these networks,
the functionality of the core layer and the distribution layer are often collapsed together.
Cisco LAN switches use ASICs to forward frames based on the destination MAC address.
Before this can be accomplished, the switch must first use the source MAC address of incoming
frames to build a MAC address table in content-addressable memory (CAM). If the destination
MAC address is contained in this table, the frame is forwarded only to the specific destination
port. In cases where the destination MAC address is not found in the MAC address table, the
frames are flooded out all ports except the one on which the frame was received.
Switches use either store-and-forward or cut-through switching. Store-and-forward reads the
entire frame into a buffer and checks the CRC before forwarding the frame. Cut-through
switching only reads the first portion of the frame and starts forwarding it as soon as the
destination address is read. Although this is extremely fast, no error checking is done on the
frame before forwarding.
Every port on a switch forms a separate collision domain allowing for extremely high-speed fullduplex communication. Switch ports do not block broadcasts, and connecting switches together
can extend the size of the broadcast domain often resulting in degraded network performance.