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Understanding MAC Notification on EX Series Switches
Juniper Networks EX Series Switches track clients on a network by storing Media Access Control (MAC) addresses in the Ethernet switching table on the switch. When switches learn or unlearn a MAC address, SNMP notifications can be sent to the network management system at regular intervals to record the addition or removal of the MAC address. This process is known as MAC notification.
The MAC Notification MIB controls MAC notification for the network management system. For general information on the MAC Notification MIB, see the Junos OS Network Management Configuration Guide.
The MAC notification interval defines how often these SNMP notifications are sent to the network management system. The MAC notification interval works by tracking all of the MAC address additions or removals on the switch over a period of time and then sending all of the tracked MAC address additions or removals to the network management server at the end of the interval. For instance, if the MAC notification interval is set to 10, all of the MAC address addition and removal SNMP notifications are sent to the network management system every 10 seconds.
Enabling MAC notification allows users to monitor the addition and removal of MAC addresses from the Ethernet switching table remotely using a network management system. The advantage of setting a high MAC notification interval is that the amount of network traffic is reduced because updates are sent less frequently. The advantage of setting a low MAC notification interval is that the network management system is better synchronized with the switch.
MAC notification is disabled by default. When MAC notification is enabled, the default MAC notification interval is 30 seconds.
