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Layer 2 Learning and Forwarding Overview
You can configure Layer 2 MAC address and VLAN learning and forwarding properties in support of Layer 2 bridging. Unicast media access control (MAC) addresses are learned to avoid flooding the packets to all the ports in a VLAN. A source MAC entry is created in its source and destination MAC tables for each MAC address learned from packets received on ports that belong to the VLAN.
By default, Layer 2 address learning is enabled. You can disable MAC learning for a device or for a specific VLAN or logical interfaces. You can also configure the following Layer 2 forwarding properties:
- Timeout interval for MAC entries
- MAC accounting
- A limit to the number of MAC addresses learned from the logical interfaces
For more information about how to configure VLANs and virtual switches, see Configuring a VLAN and Configuring a Layer 2 Virtual Switch.
