Lab - Using IOS CLI with Switch MAC Address Tables

Topology

Addressing Table
Device

Interface

IP Address

Subnet Mask

Default Gateway

R1

G0/1

192.168.1.1

255.255.255.0

N/A

S1

VLAN 1

192.168.1.11

255.255.255.0

192.168.1.1

S2

VLAN 1

192.168.1.12

255.255.255.0

192.168.1.1

PC-A

NIC

192.168.1.3

255.255.255.0

192.168.1.1

PC-B

NIC

192.168.1.2

255.255.255.0

192.168.1.1

Objectives
Part 1: Build and Configure the Network

Cable the network according to the topology diagram.

Configure the network devices according to the Addressing Table.

Part 2: Examine the Switch MAC Address Table

Use show commands to observe the process of building the switch MAC address table.

Background / Scenario
The purpose of a Layer 2 LAN switch is to deliver Ethernet frames to host devices on the local network. The
switch records host MAC addresses that are visible on the network, and maps those MAC addresses to its
own Ethernet switch ports. This process is called building the MAC address table. When a switch receives a
frame from a PC, it examines the frames source and destination MAC addresses. The source MAC address
is recorded and mapped to the switch port from which it arrived. Then the destination MAC address is looked
up in the MAC address table. If the destination MAC address is a known address, then the frame is forwarded
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Lab - Using IOS CLI with Switch MAC Address Tables

out of the corresponding switch port of the MAC address. If the MAC address is unknown, then the frame is
broadcast out of all switch ports, except the one from which it came. It is important to observe and understand
the function of a switch and how it delivers data on the network. The way a switch operates has implications
for network administrators whose job it is to ensure secure and consistent network communication.
Switches are used to interconnect and deliver information to computers on local area networks. Switches
deliver Ethernet frames to host devices identified by network interface card MAC addresses.
In Part 1, you will build a multi-switch and router topology with a trunk linking the two switches. In Part 2, you
will ping various devices and observe how the two switches build their MAC address tables.
Note: The routers used with CCNA hands-on labs are Cisco 1941 Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) with
Cisco IOS Release 15.2(4)M3 (universalk9 image). The switches used are Cisco Catalyst 2960s with Cisco
IOS Release 15.0(2) (lanbasek9 image). Other routers, switches and Cisco IOS versions can be used.
Depending on the model and Cisco IOS version, the commands available and output produced might vary
from what is shown in the labs. Refer to the Router Interface Summary Table at the end of this lab for the
correct interface identifiers.
Note: Make sure that the routers and switches have been erased and have no startup configurations. If you
are unsure contact your instructor.

Required Resources

1 Router (Cisco 1941 with Cisco IOS Release 15.2(4)M3 universal image or comparable)

2 Switches (Cisco 2960 with Cisco IOS Release 15.0(2) lanbasek9 image or comparable)

2 PCs (Windows 7, Vista, or XP with terminal emulation program, such as Tera Term)

Console cables to configure the Cisco IOS devices via the console ports

Ethernet cables as shown in the topology

Note: The Fast Ethernet interfaces on Cisco 2960 switches are autosensing and an Ethernet straight-through
cable may be used between switches S1 and S2. If using another model Cisco switch, it may be necessary to
use an Ethernet crossover cable.

Part 1: Build and Configure the Network

Step 1: Cable the network according to the topology.
Step 2: Configure PC hosts.
Step 3: Initialize and reload the routers and switches as necessary.
Step 4: Configure basic settings for each switch.
a. Configure device name as shown in the topology.
b. Configure IP address and default gateway as listed in Addressing Table.
c.

Assign cisco as the console and vty passwords.

d. Assign class as the privileged EXEC password.

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Lab - Using IOS CLI with Switch MAC Address Tables

Step 5: Configure basic settings for the router.

a. Disable DNS lookup.
b. Configure IP address for the router as listed in Addressing Table.
c.

Configure device name as shown in the topology.

d. Assign cisco as the console and vty passwords.

e. Assign class as the privileged EXEC password.

Part 2: Examine the Switch MAC Address Table

A switch learns MAC addresses and builds the MAC address table, as network devices initiate communication
on the network.

Step 1: Record network device MAC addresses.

a. Open a command prompt on PC-A and PC-B and type ipconfig /all. What are the Ethernet adapter
physical addresses?
PC-A MAC Address: ___________________________________________________________________
PC-B MAC Address: ___________________________________________________________________
b. Console into router R1 and type the show interface G0/1 command. What is the hardware address?
R1 Gigabit Ethernet 0/1 MAC Address: ____________________________________________________
c.

Console into switch S1 and S2 and type the show interface F0/1 command on each switch. On the
second line of command output, what is the hardware addresses (or burned-in address [bia])?
S1 Fast Ethernet 0/1 MAC Address: ______________________________________________________
S2 Fast Ethernet 0/1 MAC Address: ______________________________________________________

Step 2: Display the switch MAC address table.

Console into switch S2 and view the MAC address table, both before and after running network
communication tests with ping.
a. Establish a console connection to S2 and enter privileged EXEC mode.
b. In privileged EXEC mode, type the show mac address-table command and press Enter.
S2# show mac address-table
Even though there has been no network communication initiated across the network (i.e., no use of ping),
it is possible that the switch has learned MAC addresses from its connection to the PC and the other
switch.
Are there any MAC addresses recorded in the MAC address table?
____________________________________________________________________________________
What MAC addresses are recorded in the table? To which switch ports are they mapped and to which
devices do they belong? Ignore MAC addresses that are mapped to the CPU.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

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Lab - Using IOS CLI with Switch MAC Address Tables

If you had not previously recorded MAC addresses of network devices in Step 1, how could you tell which
devices the MAC addresses belong to, using only the output from the show mac address-table
command? Does it work in all scenarios?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Step 3: Clear the S2 MAC address table and display the MAC address table again.
a. In privileged EXEC mode, type the clear mac address-table dynamic command and press Enter.
S2# clear mac address-table dynamic
b. Quickly type the show mac address-table command again. Does the MAC address table have any
addresses in it for VLAN 1? Are there other MAC addresses listed?
___________________________________________________________________________________
Wait 10 seconds, type the show mac address-table command, and press Enter. Are there new
addresses in the MAC address table? __________________

Step 4: From PC-B, ping the devices on the network and observe the switch MAC address
table.
a. From PC-B, open a command prompt and type arp -a. Not including multicast or broadcast addresses,
how many device IP-to-MAC address pairs have been learned by ARP?
____________________________________________________________________________________
b. From the PC-B command prompt, ping the router/gateway R1, PC-A, S1, and S2. Did all devices have
successful replies? If not, check your cabling and IP configurations.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
c.

From a console connection to S2, enter the show mac address-table command. Has the switch added
additional MAC addresses to the MAC address table? If so, which addresses and devices?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
From PC-B, open a command prompt and retype arp -a. Does the PC-B ARP cache have additional
entries for all network devices that were sent pings?
____________________________________________________________________________________

Reflection
On Ethernet networks, data is delivered to devices by their MAC addresses. For this to happen, switches and
PCs dynamically build ARP caches and MAC address tables. With only a few computers on the network this
process seems fairly easy. What might be some of the challenges on larger networks?
_______________________________________________________________________________________

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Lab - Using IOS CLI with Switch MAC Address Tables

Router Interface Summary Table

Router Interface Summary
Router Model

Ethernet Interface #1

Ethernet Interface #2

Serial Interface #1

Serial Interface #2

1800

Fast Ethernet 0/0

(F0/0)

Fast Ethernet 0/1

(F0/1)

Serial 0/0/0 (S0/0/0)

Serial 0/0/1 (S0/0/1)

1900

Gigabit Ethernet 0/0

(G0/0)

Gigabit Ethernet 0/1

(G0/1)

Serial 0/0/0 (S0/0/0)

Serial 0/0/1 (S0/0/1)

2801

Fast Ethernet 0/0

(F0/0)

Fast Ethernet 0/1

(F0/1)

Serial 0/1/0 (S0/1/0)

Serial 0/1/1 (S0/1/1)

2811

Fast Ethernet 0/0

(F0/0)

Fast Ethernet 0/1

(F0/1)

Serial 0/0/0 (S0/0/0)

Serial 0/0/1 (S0/0/1)

2900

Gigabit Ethernet 0/0

(G0/0)

Gigabit Ethernet 0/1

(G0/1)

Serial 0/0/0 (S0/0/0)

Serial 0/0/1 (S0/0/1)

Note: To find out how the router is configured, look at the interfaces to identify the type of router and how many
interfaces the router has. There is no way to effectively list all the combinations of configurations for each router
class. This table includes identifiers for the possible combinations of Ethernet and Serial interfaces in the device.
The table does not include any other type of interface, even though a specific router may contain one. An
example of this might be an ISDN BRI interface. The string in parenthesis is the legal abbreviation that can be
used in Cisco IOS commands to represent the interface.

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