Which term allows a network administrator to associate specific MAC addresses from devices to specific interfaces?

Which term allows a network administrator to associate specific MAC addresses from devices to specific interfaces?

• A. Port Security
• B. Switch
• C. MAC Flood
• D. Persistent MAC Learning

Answer: (A)

Port security is the feature that lets you lock a switch port to specific MAC addresses. On a normal switch, addresses are learned dynamically as devices connect, but port security lets you define a whitelist for each port—either by statically assigning MAC addresses to that port or by using sticky learning to convert the first seen addresses on that port into fixed entries.

With port security in place, only frames from the allowed MAC addresses on that interface are forwarded; if another device or an unauthorized MAC tries to use that port, the switch can drop the traffic or shut the port down, depending on the configured policy. This directly ties a device’s MAC to a particular interface, enhancing security and reducing the risk of unauthorized devices gaining access.

Other terms describe related ideas but don’t specifically bind MACs to one interface in the same way: a switch is just the device, MAC flood describes an attack that exhausts the CAM table, and persistent or sticky learning is a method within port security but not the term itself for associating MACs to interfaces.