Amer Networks SS3GR24i - Manual (Page 26)

SS3GR24i/SS3GR48i Layer3 Stackable Gigabit Switch User’s Guide
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The aging time can be from 10 to 1,000,000 seconds with a default
value of 300 seconds. A very long aging time can result in dynamic
The Aging Time affects the learning process of the switch.
Dynamic forwarding table entries, which are made up of the source
MAC addresses and their associated port numbers, are deleted
from the table if they are not accessed within the aging time.
MAC Address Aging Time
The switch enters the relationship between destination MAC or IP
addresses and the Ethernet port or gateway router the destination
resides on into its forwarding table. This information is then used
to forward packets. This reduces the traffic congestion on the
network, because packets, instead of being transmitted to all ports,
are transmitted to the destination port only. Example: if Port 1
receives a packet destined for a station on Port 2, the switch
transmits that packet through Port 2 only, and transmits nothing
through the other ports. This process is referred to as ‘learning’ the
network topology.
Packet Forwarding
If you use a third-party vendors’ SNMP software to manage the
switch, a diskette listing the switch’s propriety enterprise MIBs
can be obtained by request. If your software provides functions to
browse or modify MIBs, you can also get the MIB values and
change them (if the MIBs’ attributes permit the write operation).
This process however can be quite involved, since you must know
the MIB OIDs and retrieve them one by one.
Read-write MIBs are variables usually related to user-customized
configurations. Examples of these are the switch’s IP Address,
Spanning Tree Algorithm parameters, and port status.
occurred, or how many kilobytes of data have been received and
forwarded through a port.