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Catalyst 2960 and 2960-S Switch Software Configuration Guide
OL-8603-09
Chapter 5 Administering the Switch
Managing the MAC Address Table
MAC Addresses and Switch Stacks
The MAC address tables on all stack members are synchronized. At any given time, each stack member
has the same copy of the address tables for each VLAN. When an address ages out, the address is
removed from the address tables on all stack members. When a switch joins a switch stack, that switch
receives the addresses for each VLAN learned on the oth er stack members. When a stack member leaves
the switch stack, the remaining stack members age out or remove all addresses learned by the former
stack member.
Default MAC Address Table Configuration
Table 5-3 shows the default MAC address table configuration.
Changing the Address Aging Time
Dynamic addresses are source MAC addresses that the switch learns and then ages when they are not in
use. You can change the aging time setting for all VLANs or for a specified VLAN.
Setting too short an aging time can cause addresses to be prematurely removed from the table. Then
when the switch receives a packet for an unknown destination, it floods the packet to all ports in the same
VLAN as the receiving port. This unnecessary flooding can impact performance. Setting too long an
aging time can cause the address table to be filled with unused addresses, which prevents new addresses
from being learned. Flooding results, which can impact switch performance.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure the dynamic address table aging
time:
To return to the default value, use the no mac address-table aging-time global configuration command.
Table 5-3 Default MAC Address Table Configuration
Feature Default Setting
Aging time 300 seconds
Dynamic addresses Automatically learned
Static addresses None configured
Command Purpose
Step 1 configure terminal Enter global configuration mode.
Step 2 mac address-table aging-time [0 |
10-1000000] [vlan vlan-id]
Set the length of time that a dynamic entry remains in the MAC
address table after the entry is used or updated.
The range is 10 to 1000000 seconds. The default is 300. You can also
enter 0, which disables aging. Static address entries are never aged
or removed from the table.
For vlan-id, valid IDs are 1 to 4094.
Step 3 end Return to privileged EXEC mode.
Step 4 show mac address-table aging-time Verify your entries.
Step 5 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Save your entries in the configuration file.