The protected ports feature is a safety measure that prevents ports from forwarding traffic to each other, even if they are on the same VLAN. Each port is designated as either protected or unprotected. By default, all ports are unprotected.
Ports that are protected cannot forward traffic to other protected ports, regardless of the VLAN membership. However, protected ports can forward traffic to unprotected ports. Unprotected ports can forward traffic to both protected and unprotected ports. The following table summarizes this relationship:
|
Type of Port |
Protected Egress Port |
Unprotected Egress Port |
|
Source port |
Prohibited |
Allowed |
|
Destination port |
Allowed |
Allowed |
For information about configuring protected ports on a smart switch, see the “How do I configure protected ports on a smart switch