Do interfaces in a Forwarding state send or receive regular network traffic?

Interfaces in a Forwarding state are indeed responsible for sending and receiving regular network traffic. When an interface is in this state, it means that it has successfully completed the process of link establishment and is actively forwarding frames based on the Layer 2 forwarding decisions made by the switch. In this state, the interface participates fully in the network, transmitting incoming packets and accepting outgoing packets.

This is fundamentally different from interfaces that might be in states such as Blocking, Listening, or Learning, which have restrictions on traffic flow to prevent network loops or to build the MAC address table. Therefore, being in the Forwarding state signifies that the interface is functioning normally and can communicate with other devices on the network, thus handling all standard network traffic effectively.