Matching a packet’s intended destination address with the IP routing table requires router CPU cycles. Enterprise routers can contain tens of thousands of entries and can match the same number of incoming packets against these entries. In an attempt to make this process as efficient as possible, Cisco has created various switching methods. The first is called process switching and it uses the route lookup and best match method already outlined. This method was improved upon with fast switching. A list of IP addresses of recently forwarded packets is generated by the router as well as the Data Link . . .
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