Teaching on Testbeds

Ethernet switch

Fraida Fund

Runs on: Networking, CloudLab, FABRIC

In this experimental demonstration of the basic operation of a layer 2 switch/bridge, we will see:

  • how to set up a layer 2 bridge on Linux,
  • how a bridge or switch learns MAC addresses and updates its forwarding table, and how it forwards, filters, or floods a frame depending on the forwarding table,
  • how a bridge or switch reduces collisions by separating each port into a separate collision domain.
  • It should take about 60-120 minutes to run this experiment.

You can run this experiment on CloudLab or on FABRIC.

Operation of a basic Ethernet switch or bridge

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2231984.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.