Broadcast filtering enables you to filter out broadcast traffic such as address resolution protocol (ARP) storms or UDP broadcasts on attached IEA-IOP and CNA networking devices. By eliminating excessive broadcast traffic at the network interface level rather than within the MCP host, you can free up the MCP processor for its normal workload and prevent a denial of service attack on the MCP host.

Broadcast filtering enables you to set a high threshold value for broadcast packets received per second from the network. When the threshold value is reached, the system begins filtering the broadcast packets. Also, you can set a low threshold value to determine the rate at which received broadcast packets per second must decrease before broadcast packets are processed again.

The default high threshold value is 1,000 bps, and the low threshold value is 500 bps.