# Switch A switch can be thought of as a more modern version of a [[Hub]]. A switch maintains a MAC address to port map called a CAM table, allowing it to forward an incoming frame to its intended destination only. The Content Addressable Memory (CAM) table maps MAC addresses to ports, and is updated whenever a switch receives a frame from an unknown address. A special MAC address exists that is used for broadcasts, indicating to switches that a frame should be sent to all nodes. For these frames a switch acts like a [[Hub|hub]]. Because switches inspect traffic and filter it based on destination MAC addresses (instead of just blindly broadcasting everything like hubs), it is said that switches operate on the [[OSI Layer 2 - The Data Link Layer]].