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Москва, Новозаводская ул., 18, стр. 1 
340 
Chapter 41 The Number Limitation Function of 
MAC and IP in Port, VLAN Configuration 
41.1 Introduction to the Number Limitation Function of MAC and 
IP in Port, VLAN 
MAC address list is used to identify the mapping relationship between the  destination MAC 
addresses and the ports of switch. There are two kinds of MAC addresses in the list: static 
MAC address and dynamic MAC address. The static MAC address is set by users, having the 
highest priority (will not be overwritten by dynamic MAC address), and will always be effective; 
dynamic MAC address is learnt by the switch through transmitting data frames, and will only 
be effective in a specific time range. When the switch receives a data framed waiting to be 
transmitted,  it  will  study  the  source  MAC  address  of  the  data  frame,  build  a  mapping 
relationship with the receiving port, and then look up the MAC address list for the destination 
MAC address. If any matching list entry is found, the switch will transmit the data frame via the 
corresponding port, or, the switch will broadcast the data frame over the VLAN it belongs to. If 
the dynamically learnt MAC address matches no transmitted data in a long time, the switch will 
delete it from the MAC address list. 
Usually the switch supports both the static configuration and dynamic study of MAC address, 
which means each port can have more than one static set MAC addresses and dynamically 
learnt MAC addresses, and thus can implement the transmission of data traffic between port 
and known MAC addresses. When a MAC address becomes out of date, it will be dealt with 
broadcast. No number limitation is put on MAC address of the ports of our current switches; 
every  port  can  have  several  MAC  addressed  either  by  configuration  or  study,  until  the 
hardware list entries are exhausted. To avoid too many MAC addresses of a port, we should 
limit the number of MAC addresses a port can have. 
 For each INTERFACE VLAN, there is no number limitation of IP; the upper limit of the number 
of IP is the upper limit of the number of user on an interface, which is, at the same time, the 
upper limit of ARP and ND list entry. There is no relative configuration command can be used 
to control the sent number of these list entries. To enhance the security and the controllability 
of our products, we need to control the number of MAC address on each port and the number 
of ARP, ND on each INTERFACE VLAN. The number of static or dynamic MAC address on a 
port  should  not  exceed  the  configuration.  The  number  of  user  on  each  VLAN  should  not 
exceed the configuration, either. 
Limiting the number of MAC and ARP list entry can avoid DOS attack to a certain extent. When 
malicious users frequently do MAC or ARP cheating, it will be easy for them to fill the MAC and 










