How to Reduce Network Flooding from Host ARP Learning Behavior

A.

The mechanism that reduces the network flooding caused by host ARP learning behavior is ARP suppression (Option A).

In a network, when a host sends an ARP request, it broadcasts the request to all the devices connected to the same network segment. If the destination IP address matches with any device's IP address, that device replies with its MAC address. The source host then updates its ARP cache with the corresponding MAC address.

This behavior can lead to network flooding when there are a large number of devices on the network. Network flooding occurs when a large amount of broadcast traffic is generated, consuming network resources and degrading performance. ARP suppression helps to mitigate this problem by suppressing unnecessary ARP requests and responses, thereby reducing the amount of broadcast traffic.

ARP suppression works by configuring the switch to intercept ARP requests and responses and forwarding them only to the specific ports where the devices are located. This way, the ARP traffic is limited only to the necessary devices, preventing network flooding.

Storm control (Option B) is another mechanism that helps to prevent network flooding. It monitors the network traffic and when it exceeds a certain threshold, it limits the traffic to prevent it from overwhelming the network. However, storm control does not specifically target ARP traffic.

Root guard (Option C) and BPDU guard (Option D) are mechanisms used in Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) to prevent network loops. Root guard ensures that a designated switch remains the root bridge, while BPDU guard disables a port when it receives a BPDU packet, indicating a possible network loop. Neither of these mechanisms is related to reducing ARP traffic or network flooding.