Cabletron Systems 7C04 Workgroup - Manual (Page 9)

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Introduction
1.3.3 Operations
Data entering through a front panel of a SmartSwitch interface
module in the 7C04 Chassis is converted by the module’s
hardware into a common “canonical” format. Canonical frames are
forwarded along the chassis’ SmartSwitch Bus to the 7X00 Module
in slot one. The configuration of the 7X00 Module (either
traditional switch or SecureFast Packet Switch) determines the
manner in which frames are filtered or forwarded.
Traditional Switch
When operating as a traditional switch (a store-and-forward
switch using the 802.1d Spanning Tree protocol), the 7X00
Module’s SmartSwitch Core searches for the frame’s destination
address in the module’s connection table.
If the frame’s destination address is found in the connection table,
the frame is forwarded to that specific destination via the chassis’
SmartSwitch Bus.
If the frame’s destination address is not found in the connection
table, the frame is flooded to all of the SmartSwitch interface
modules in the chassis via the chassis’ SmartSwitch Bus. The
frame’s destination address is added to the module’s connection
table.
SecureFast Packet Switch
When operating as a SecureFast Packet Switch, the 7X00 Module’s
SmartSwitch Core searches for the frame’s destination address-
source address (DA-SA) pair and receive port in the module’s
connection table.
If the frame’s entry is found in the connection table, the frame is
forwarded to a specific destination via the chassis’ SmartSwitch
Bus.