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A physical Ethernet switch manages network traffic between machines on the physical

network. A switch has multiple ports, each of which can be connected to a single other

machine or another switch on the network. Each port can be configured to behave in

certain ways depending on the needs of the machine connected to it. The switch learns

which hosts are connected to which of its ports and uses that information to forward

traffic to the correct physical machines. Switches are the core of a physical network.

Multiple switches can be connected together to form larger networks.