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VH-2402-L3 Management Guide 115
network manager. MIB values can be either read-only or
read-write.
Read-only MIBs variables can be either constants that are
programmed into the Switch, or variables that change while
the Switch is in operation. Examples of read-only constants
are the number of port and type of ports. Examples of read-
only variables are the statistics counters such as the number
of errors that have occurred, or how many kilobytes of data
have been received and forwarded through a port.
Read-write MIBs are variables usually related to user-
customized configurations. Examples of these are the
Switch’s IP Address, Spanning Tree Algorithm parameters,
and port status.
If you use a third-party vendors’ SNMP software to manage
the Switch, a diskette listing the Switch’s propriety enterprise
MIBs can be obtained by request. If your software provides
functions to browse or modify MIBs, you can also get the
MIB values and change them (if the MIBs’ attributes permit
the write operation). This process however can be quite
involved, since you must know the MIB OIDs and retrieve
them one by one.
Packet Forwarding
The Switch enters the relationship between destination MAC
or IP addresses and the Ethernet port or gateway router the
destination resides on into its forwarding table. This
information is then used to forward packets. This reduces
the traffic congestion on the network, because packets,
instead of being transmitted to all ports, are transmitted to
the destination port only. Example: if Port 1 receives a
packet destined for a station on Port 2, the Switch transmits
that packet through Port 2 only, and transmits nothing
through the other ports. This process is referred to as
‘learning’ the network topology.
MAC Address Aging Time
The Aging Time affects the learning process of the Switch.
Dynamic forwarding table entries, which are made up of the