Allied Telesis AT-9000/52 User Manual

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Chapter 14: Setting MAC Address-based Port Security
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Overview
This feature lets you control access to the ports on the switch based on 
the source MAC addresses of the network devices. You specify the 
maximum number of source MAC addresses that ports can learn. Ports 
that learn their maximum number of addresses discard packets that have 
new, unknown addresses, preventing access to the switch by any 
additional devices.
For example, if you configure port 3 on the switch to learn five source MAC 
addresses, the port learns up to five address and forwards the ingress 
packets of the devices that belong to those addresses. If the port receives 
ingress packets that have source MAC addresses other than the five it has 
already learned, it discards those packets to prevent the devices from 
passing traffic through the switch.
Static Versus
Dynamic
Addresses
The MAC addresses that the ports learn can be stored as either static or 
dynamic addresses in the MAC address table in the switch. Ports that 
store the addresses as static addresses do not learn new addresses after 
they have learned their maximum number. In contrast, ports that store 
the addresses as dynamic addresses can learn new addresses when 
addresses are timed out from the table by the switch. The addresses are 
aged out according to the aging time of the MAC address table.
Intrusion Actions
The intrusion actions define what the switch does when ports that have 
learned their maximum number of MAC addresses receive packets that 
have unknown source MAC addresses. Intrusion actions are also called 
violation actions. The possible settings are:
Protect - Ports discard those frames that have unknown MAC 
addresses. No other action is taken. For example, if port 14 is 
configured to learn 18 addresses, it starts to discard packets with 
unknown source MAC addresses after learning 18 MAC addresses.
Restrict - This is the same as the protect action, except that the switch 
sends SNMP traps when the ports discard frames. For example, if port 
12 is configured to learn two addresses, the switch sends a trap every 
time the port, after learning two addresses, discards a packet that has 
an unknown MAC address.
Shutdown - The switch disables the ports and sends SNMP traps. For 
example, if port 5 is configured to learn three MAC addresses, it is 
disabled by the switch to prevent it from forwarding any further traffic if 
it receives a packet with an unknown source MAC address, after 
learning three addresses. The switch also sends an SNMP trap.