I had to change the default “aging time” on a bridge I created from “00:05:00” to “00:15:00” to keep all MAC addresses on the network listed in the host table. Is this the best method to keep the host table populated or is there another method? From what I understand, this list only gets populated based on how active the host is. I didn’t know if there was a setting on the hosts that can be modified or if this is always random. I’ll just keep this at 15min unless I learn something more.
Based on reading this:
The source MAC address is stored in the bridge table as soon as a host talks (transmits a data packet) on the LAN.
Hosts have to be doing a specific standard polling, or something I would think.
Furthermore, I noticed windows clients stay populated with the setting at 5min, but all my linux derived systems needed 15min. This makes me think polling from the hosts is different and them transmitting data packets or talking has nothing to do with this. There is a specific mechanism or specific “talk” occurring here.