200-301 Question 150
Single answerA network administrator is troubleshooting a switch in a small office network. The switch is experiencing high memory usage due to an excessive number of MAC addresses in its MAC address table. The administrator decides to modify the MAC address aging timer to help manage the table size. What will happen if the MAC address aging timer is reduced to a very low value?
- A
The switch will remove inactive MAC addresses more quickly from the MAC address table.
- B
The switch will stop learning new MAC addresses.
- C
The switch will prioritize traffic from MAC addresses that have been active longer.
- D
The switch may flood more traffic to all ports for unknown destinations.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The MAC address aging timer controls how long a MAC address remains in the MAC address table when it is not actively sending traffic. Reducing the timer helps the switch remove unused or inactive entries more quickly, freeing up memory and reducing the table size. However, the switch will still continue to learn new MAC addresses as usual. This setting is useful in environments with high MAC address churn but must be carefully configured to avoid excessive flooding or network instability.
- A. Correct.
Correct. Reducing the MAC address aging timer means the switch will remove inactive MAC addresses more quickly, helping reduce table size.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. The switch will still learn new MAC addresses, but they will be aged out faster if not active.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. The MAC address aging timer does not influence traffic prioritization on the switch.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. While reducing the aging timer might increase flooding temporarily for unknown destinations, this is not the primary function of reducing the timer.