Netopia 6.3 User Manual

Page 61

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61

Section 4

Configure

Link

Ethernet Bridge

Response

Description

Bridges let you join two local area networks, so that they appear to be
part of the same physical network. As a bridge for protocols other than
TCP/IP, your Gateway keeps track of as many as 255 MAC (Media
Access Control) addresses, each of which uniquely identifies an individ-
ual host on a network. Your Gateway uses this bridging table to identify
which hosts are accessible through which of its network interfaces. The
bridging table contains the MAC address of each packet it sees, along
with the interface over which it received the packet. Over time, the
Gateway learns which hosts are available through its WAN port, its LAN
port, and/or its wireless interface.

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