Lab Members:

Switch 1 – PC-A:
Mariana Fernández De la Torre
Marcela Hernández Ramírez
Arturo Ordóñez Jarillo
Diego Emiliano Muñoz Bernal
Switch 2 – PC-B:
Pedro Luis Pérez Collado
Franco Muñoz Ceballos
Marco Miloslavich Airola
Alejandro Miloslavich Airola

Topology

Addressing Table

Device Interface IP Address Subnet Mask

S1 VLAN 1 192.168.1.11 255.255.255.0

S2 VLAN 1 192.168.1.12 255.255.255.0
PC-A NIC 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
PC-B NIC 192.168.1.2 255.255.255.0

© 2013 - 2024 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 1 of 10 www.netacad.com
Lab 7.3.7

Objectives
Part 1: Build and Configure the Network
Part 2: Examine 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 frame’s 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 out of the corresponding switch port
associated with that MAC address. If the MAC address is unknown, then the frame is broadcasted
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 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 switches used are Cisco Catalyst 2960s with Cisco IOS Release 15.2(2) (lanbasek9
image). Other 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.
Note: Make sure that the switches have been erased and have no startup configurations. If you are
unsure contact your instructor.

Required Resources
• 2 Switches (Cisco 2960 with Cisco IOS Release 15.2(2) lanbasek9 image or comparable)
• 2 PCs (Windows 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.

© 2013 - 2024 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 2 of 10 www.netacad.com
Lab 7.3.7

Instructions

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 switches as necessary.

Step 4: Configure basic settings for each switch.

Open configuration window
a. Configure device name as shown in the topology.
b. Configure IP address as listed in Addressing Table.
c. Assign cisco as the console and vty passwords.
d. Assign class as the privileged EXEC password.
Close configuration window

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: DC – 4A- 3E – 69 – 50 – 1Dwers here.
PC-B MAC Address: DC – 4A – 3E – 66 – 6D – F1
r answers here.
Close Windows command prompt
b. Console into switch S1 and S2 and type the show interface F0/1 command on each switch.
Open a configuration window
Questions:
On the second line of command output, what is the hardware addresses (or burned-in address
[bia])?
S1 Fast Ethernet 0/1 MAC Address: 0017.5af1.a581
Type your answers here.
S2 Fast Ethernet 0/1 MAC Address: 5897.1e44.c219
Type your answers here.
Close a configuration window

© 2013 - 2024 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 3 of 10 www.netacad.com
Lab 7.3.7

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.
Open a configuration window
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?
Si
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.

© 2013 - 2024 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 4 of 10 www.netacad.com
Lab 7.3.7

5897.1e44.c201 Dynamic Gi0/1

dc4a.3e66.6df1 Dynamic Gi0/1
dc4a.3e69.501d Dynamic Fa0/1

Y para el Segundo switch, la dirección MAC y los puertos son los siguientes:
0017.5af1.a581 Dynamic Fa0/1
dc4a.3e69.501d Dynamic Fa0/1
dc4a.3e66.5df1 Dynamic Gi 0/1

© 2013 - 2024 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 5 of 10 www.netacad.com
Lab 7.3.7

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?
Solo sabiendo qué puertos conecté, deduciría la MAC address correspondiente.

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.
Questions:
Does the MAC address table have any addresses in it for VLAN 1? Are there other MAC
addresses listed?
No, aunque aún aparecen la MAC address de la conexión entre los switches
Wait 10 seconds, type the show mac address-table command, and press Enter. Are there
new addresses in the MAC address table?
Si, quedaron los mismos:

5897.1e44.c201 Dynamic Gi0/1

dc4a.3e66.6df1 Dynamic Gi0/1
dc4a.3e69.501d Dynamic Fa0/1

Y para el segundo switch:

0017.5af1.a581 Dynamic Fa0/1
dc4a.3e69.501d Dynamic Fa0/1
dc4a.3e66.5df1 Dynamic Gi 0/1

© 2013 - 2024 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 6 of 10 www.netacad.com
Lab 7.3.7

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?
Dos
b. From the PC-B command prompt, ping PC-A, S1, and S2.
Did all devices have successful replies? If not, check your cabling and IP configurations.
Si, todos tuvieron respuestas exitosas, sin embargo, en el caso de los switches se perdió el primer
paquete, pero al volver a solicitarlo, respondió correctamente.

© 2013 - 2024 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 7 of 10 www.netacad.com
Lab 7.3.7

Y para el segundo switch tenemos:

© 2013 - 2024 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 8 of 10 www.netacad.com
Lab 7.3.7

c. From a console connection to S2, enter the show mac address-table commandwindow
Question:
Has the switch added additional MAC addresses to the MAC address table? If so, which
addresses and devices?
Si, le añadió el:
0017.5af1.a5c0 DYNAMIC Fa0/1
Type your answers hand prompt
From PC-B, open a command prompt and retype arp -a.
Question:
Does the PC-B ARP cache have additional entries for all network devices that were sent
pings?
Sí

Type
Close a command prompt

© 2013 - 2024 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 9 of 10 www.netacad.com
Lab 7.3.7

Reflection Question
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?
Algunos de los retos podrían incluir escalabilidad, incremento de tráfico, verificar que se cumpla la
redundancia con el protocolo STP por ejemplo y pueden haber riesgos de seguridad.

© 2013 - 2024 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 10 of 10 www.netacad.com