Intermec 6710 manual Features and Functional Overview

Models: 6710

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SECTION 2 " Features and Functional Overview

Bridges operate at the Media Access Control (MAC) sublayer of the Data Link Layer (Layer 2) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) protocol model. Operating at the MAC layer allows bridges to operate transparently to commonly used network protocols such as TCP/IP, Novell SPX/IPX, NetBEUI, and DECnet.

In wired LANs, bridges do the following:

"Segment traffic for better efficiency and performance.

"Extend the reach of LANs when cable length or node limits have been reached.

"Translate between different LAN types such as IEEE 802.3 Ethernet and 802.5 Token Ring.

A LAN environment normally consists of a collection of nodes or stations, each identified by a unique 48-bit physical address (also called an IEEE address or MAC address). Data is sent on the LAN as frames or packets that contain the source address of the station sending the frame, and the destination address of the recipient station.

A bridge has at least two ports, each connected to a different LAN segment. Bridges learn which source addresses are generating traffic on each of their ports. If the bridge receives a frame with a destination address corresponding to a source address it has seen on another port, it forwards the frame to the port. If it receives a frame where the source and destination addresses are on the same port, it ignores (drops) the frame, since the destination node receives the original transmission. Generally, if a bridge receives a frame for an unknown destination address on any one port, it floods the frame on all other ports.

6710 Access Point User’s Guide 2-3

Page 27
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Intermec 6710 manual Features and Functional Overview