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Question

In a LAN environment, switches improve network efficiency primarily by:

This question was previously asked in
RRB JE 2025 CBT 2 Mechanical and Allied Engg Question Paper English (2-Jul-2026) (Shift-1)
The correct answer is

Forwarding frames selectively using MAC addresses

A LAN switch is an intelligent Data Link Layer (Layer 2) device. Unlike an old hub, which simply repeats every incoming bit out of all ports and forces all devices to share one collision domain, a switch makes forwarding decisions based on the Ethernet frame's MAC addresses. This is why the correct answer is that switches improve efficiency by forwarding frames selectively using MAC addresses.

How a switch achieves this:

  • It builds and maintains a MAC address table (CAM table) by learning the source MAC address of each frame and the port it arrived on.
  • When a frame arrives, it reads the destination MAC, looks it up, and forwards the frame only to the port where that device is connected (unicast) instead of flooding every port.
  • Each switch port forms its own collision domain, so devices can communicate in parallel, often in full-duplex mode with no collisions.

The result is that each link carries mostly its own intended traffic, giving higher effective throughput and far fewer collisions.

Why the other options are wrong:

  • Broadcasting all frames to every device describes hub behaviour, which wastes bandwidth — it is the very inefficiency switches were designed to eliminate (a switch floods only for unknown-unicast or genuine broadcast frames).
  • Increasing collisions and retransmitting is the opposite of a switch's purpose; by segmenting collision domains it reduces collisions.
  • Converting digital to analog signal is the function of a modem, not a switch, and has nothing to do with frame forwarding.
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Important Questions from Data Link Layer

  1. If a file consisting of 50,000 characters takes 40 seconds to send, then the data rate is ______

  2. Which one of the following functionality is not performed by data link layer?

  3. It is necessary to design a link-layer protocol between two hosts that are directly connected over a lossless link of length 3000 kilometers. Assume that the link bandwidth is $10^8$ bits per second and that the propagation delay in the link is 5 nanoseconds per meter. Every transmitted data byte is assigned a unique sequence number.

    Let $N$ be the minimum number of bits needed for the sequence number field in the protocol header such that
    i. the sequence numbers do not wrap around before 60 seconds, and
    ii. the maximum utilization of the link is achieved.

    The value of $N$ is ______. (answer in integer)
  4. Which of the following protocols is responsible for converting higher level protocol addresses to physical network addresses?

  5. Which of the following are controlled-access protocols
    A. Reservation
    B. Polling
    C. TDMA
    D. Token Passing
    E. CSMA/CA
    Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
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