| 摘要 |
A Network Switch and related method are disclosed for handling large amounts of internetwork message traffic employing internetwork protocols in a way substantially as efficient as a bridge handles network traffic within a network without the complexity and expense related to employing a full router. The Network Switch features database means for correlating MAC addresses, network addresses, network switch port addresses and VLAN configuration. The Network Switch maintains the network presence of a bridge (i.e., it does not have its own MAC or network address) and operates promiscuously by having internetwork traffic travel through the Network Switch and entering address data of the data packets. The Network Switch thus learns the network topology and subsequently redirects and re-addresses packets addressed to a router and transmits them to their destination MAC address. In this way, the workload on the router is greatly reduced. Any packet having an unknown address is forwarded to the router as originally sent. The related method discloses an internetwork configuration featuring a plurality of networks connected with at least one Network Switch device and at least one router, and serves to alleviate the workload which had been placed entirely on the router according to prior art configurations. The Network Switch also features various modes of operation for handling address resolution requests.
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