About this interactive
From the lesson:
- **ARP table:** kept on an end device. When it learns a MAC address by ARP, it records the IP address and the MAC address together, so it can address frames to that IP address again.
- **MAC address table (also called the CAM table):** kept on a switch. It learns each MAC address from the source of frames arriving on a port and records the MAC and the port. When a frame comes for that MAC, the switch sends it out that one port.
IP and MAC: ARP table, on a host. MAC and port: MAC address table, on a switch.
What you'll learn
- Tell an ARP table (kept by a host, mapping IP addresses to MAC addresses) from a MAC address table (kept by a switch, mapping MAC addresses to ports)
- Say which device keeps each table and what each lets that device do
Aligned to
Cisco CCNA
1.13
Describe switching concepts
Cisco CCST Networking
4.5
Explain basic switching concepts
Key terms
- ARP Table
- A cache stored on a device that holds mappings of IP addresses to MAC addresses, reducing the need for repetitive ARP broadcasts.
- MAC Address Table
- A table maintained by a switch (also called the CAM table) that maps source MAC addresses to the switch ports on which those devices were learned. When a frame arrives, the switch looks up the destination MAC in this table to forward it out only the correct port rather than flooding all ports.
- Address Resolution Protocol
ARP
- A protocol used to map an IP address to a physical MAC address on a local network.
- Switch
- A network device that connects devices within a LAN and forwards traffic based on MAC addresses.
- Content Addressable Memory
CAM
- High-speed memory used in network switches to store the MAC address table, enabling near-instantaneous lookups of which port a destination MAC address is associated with. CAM tables are populated dynamically as switches learn source MAC addresses from incoming frames.
Topics
Arp Table
Mac Address Table
Switch
Arp
Interactive
Streak Sort
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