Dictionary · Networking Hardware
Switch
Devices · Beginner
A device that forwards frames to the port where the destination hardware address was learned. Each full-duplex port is its own collision domain.
It learns which hardware address lives on which port and stops repeating ordinary frames out every port. A layer-3 model can also route between networks.
Picture it
After the switch learns a hardware address, ordinary frames for that address go to one port. A basic switch does not provide Internet routes.
Example: After a workstation speaks on port 12, later frames for its hardware address leave only that port.
Common misconception
- A basic model does not provide Internet routes. That requires routing, even when the same chassis can do both.