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What can cause ARP table exhaustion on enterprise switches?
Asked on Oct 30, 2025
Answer
ARP table exhaustion on enterprise switches can occur due to excessive ARP requests, often caused by network misconfigurations, broadcast storms, or malicious activities like ARP spoofing. This can lead to degraded network performance or denial of service as the switch struggles to manage its ARP cache.
Example Concept: ARP table exhaustion happens when a switch's ARP cache reaches its maximum capacity, preventing it from storing new ARP entries. This can be triggered by a flood of ARP requests, often due to network loops, misconfigured devices, or malicious attacks. As the ARP table fills up, legitimate ARP requests may be dropped, leading to connectivity issues and increased latency as devices repeatedly attempt to resolve IP addresses to MAC addresses without success.
Additional Comment:
- Monitor network traffic for unusual ARP activity using tools like Wireshark.
- Implement ARP rate limiting and dynamic ARP inspection to mitigate risks.
- Ensure proper network segmentation and VLAN configuration to limit broadcast domains.
- Regularly update switch firmware to benefit from security patches and improvements.
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