cisco router mac limit?

[Nicholas Poole]

Is there a MAC address limit for Cisco switches, and if so what is it and where can I find it?

There is normally a published MAC limit for Cisco Cat switches, typically of 8K.  This is listed in the respective data sheets.  I haven't found anything in the ISR G2 data sheets for example.

Thanks in advance.

[Joseph W. Doherty]

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Posting

Switch MAC limits are usually "small" because they use often use TCAM, which is "small".

ISR G2 tend to store most things ordinary RAM, so MAC limits might (first) depend on free RAM (although there's often logical caps too).

Also an ISRs MACs limits would normally concern the ARP cache, they wouldn't have a MAC address table, like switches do (except when they are configured to bridge).

[Nicholas Poole]

Your view matches mine, which is that as the (ISR) router is more software than hardware ASIC specific as a Cat switch would be its upper limits are probably not as well defined or recorded.

I just wonder if anyone has actually got any real world experience values to share?