Switches help to overcome performance issues of shared networks

Each switch contains a MAC address table linking each MAC address with the corresponding port
interface. (initially empty)

The source MAC addresses of Frames destined for unknown link Frames are forwarded to
received frames are recorded layer destinations are flooded destinations based on the MAC
table

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- When the physical connection between a host and a switch port interface is removed,
the switch detects the “down” state of the link and automatically removes the MAC
entry from the table.
- Once connected again, another ARP request is generated enabling the switch to
discover the host and populate the MAC address table.