What is the Difference Between Flooding and Broadcasting?

Flooding and broadcasting are two different networking concepts that serve distinct purposes.

Flooding is a technique used by switches at Layer 2 (data link layer) to send unknown unicast frames to all other interfaces. When a frame is not destined for a host that receives it, the host will ignore it and not be interrupted. Flooding is limited to a broadcast domain and is used to find a MAC address that the switch does not have in its Content Addressable Memory (CAM).

Broadcasting, on the other hand, is a method used in computer networking where every device in the network receives a packet. Broadcasting is done by specifying a special broadcast address on packets. It is a controlled process, unlike flooding, and is used when a device sends out controlled requests, such as during the ARP process or when seeking a DHCP server.

In summary, the main differences between flooding and broadcasting are:

• Flooding is used by switches at Layer 2 to send unknown unicast frames to all other interfaces, while broadcasting is a method used to ensure that every device in the network receives a packet.
• Flooding is used to find a MAC address that the switch does not have in its CAM, while broadcasting is a controlled process.
• Flooding may send the same packet along the same link multiple times, but broadcasting sends a packet along a link at most once.

Comparative Table: Flooding vs Broadcasting

Here is a table comparing the differences between flooding and broadcasting:

In summary, flooding is a process used by switches to find unknown MAC addresses within a network by sending the packet out all ports, while broadcasting is a method used in computer networking to ensure every device in the network receives a packet.