Currently studying the switching methods, someone could confirm to me the assumptions as follows ? I also would have some questions.
- Generally the layer-2 switches have ASIC components with CAM memory to perform the frames forwarding
- Generally the layer-3 switches have ASIC components with TCAM memory to perform the packets forwarding
- Regarding CEF, 1) when running in software, the FIB and Adjacency tables are stored in RAM and processed by CPU, and 2) when running in hardware, the FIB and Adjacency tables are stored in TCAM and processed by ASIC
- Regarding the Fast Switching method, does the fast-switching cache could be like the CEF switching, stored either in RAM or in TCAM if the switch has TCAM capability ?
- Finally, regarding a practical point of view, do a Cisco Catalyst 3850, and Catalyst 4500 have ASIC and TCAM memory ? Only CAT 6500 and 7600 Series Routers and Switches seems to have TCAM.
Thanks.
