Module interface for modules providing Ethernet switch functionality. These modules handle the mapping between ports and MAC addresses, and forward frames to appropriate ports.

Functions:

• relays frames based on their dest MAC addresses (dest-->port mapping)
• models finite buffer size (drops) and finite processing power (latency, queueing)

Address caching is modeled by a fixed-size lookup table. When the table is full, the oldest address is kicked out of the cache.

Entries are also deleted if their age exceeds a certain limit.

If needed, address tables can be pre-loaded from text files at the beginning of the simulation; this controlled by the forwardingTableFile module parameter.

This module is not a concrete implementation, it just defines gates and parameters a IMacRelayUnit should have. Concrete inplementations add capacity and performance aspects to the model (number of frames processed per second, amount of memory available in the switch, etc.)

Known implementations are MacRelayUnit and Ieee8021dRelay.

Inheritance diagram

The following diagram shows inheritance relationships for this type. Unresolved types are missing from the diagram.

Implemented by

Name	Type	Description
Ieee8021dRelay	simple module	This modul forwards frames (EtherFrame) based on their destination MAC addresses to appropriate ports.
MacRelayUnit	simple module	(no description)

Used in compound modules

Name	Type	Description
AccessPoint	compound module	A generic access point supporting multiple wireless radios, and multiple ethernet ports. The type of the ethernet MAC, relay unit and wireless card can be specified as parameters.

Extends

Name	Type	Description
IProtocolLayer	module interface	This module interface is implemented by all protocol layer modules that connect to a higher and to a lower protocol layer, both of which is optional.

Properties

Name	Value	Description
omittedTypename	OmittedProtocolLayer
display	i=block/switch

Source code

//
// Module interface for modules providing Ethernet switch functionality.
// These modules handle the mapping between ports and MAC addresses,
// and forward frames to appropriate ports.
//
// Functions:
// - relays frames based on their dest MAC addresses (dest-->port mapping)
// - models finite buffer size (drops) and finite processing power (latency, queueing)
//
// Address caching is modeled by a fixed-size lookup table.
// When the table is full, the oldest address is kicked out of the cache.
//
// Entries are also deleted if their age exceeds a certain limit.
//
// If needed, address tables can be pre-loaded from text files at the beginning
// of the simulation; this controlled by the forwardingTableFile module parameter.
//
// This module is not a concrete implementation, it just defines gates and
// parameters a ~IMacRelayUnit should have. Concrete inplementations add
// capacity and performance aspects to the model (number of frames processed
// per second, amount of memory available in the switch, etc.)
//
// Known implementations are ~MacRelayUnit and ~Ieee8021dRelay.
//
moduleinterface IMacRelayUnit extends IProtocolLayer
{
    parameters:
        @display("i=block/switch");
}

File: src/inet/linklayer/contract/IMacRelayUnit.ned

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