A Layer 2 switch makes forwarding decisions by inspecting the destination MAC address in each incoming Ethernet frame. If the destination address is already in its MAC (CAM) table, the switch forwards the frame only out the port associated with that address; if the address is unknown, broadcast, or multicast, the frame is flooded. The switch does not examine Layer 3 information, perform security inspection, or route traffic between different IP networks-those functions belong to routers and firewalls.
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