2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Frame-Mode/Cell-Mode MPLS Implementation on

Cisco IOS Platforms

CEF Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Outline
Overview
Cisco IOS Platform Switching Mechanisms
Standard IP Switching Review
CEF Switching Review
Configure IP CEF
Monitor IP CEF
Lesson Summary

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-3

Cisco IOS Platform Switching

Mechanisms
The Cisco IOS platform supports three IP
switching mechanisms:
Routing-table-driven switching process switching
Full lookup at every packet

Cache-driven switching fast switching

Most recent destinations entered in the cache
First packet is always process-switched

Topology-driven switching
CEF (prebuilt FIB table)

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-4

Standard IP Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-5

Standard IP Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-6

Standard IP Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-7

Standard IP Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-8

Standard IP Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-9

Standard IP Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-10

Standard IP Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-11

Standard IP Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-12

CEF Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-13

CEF Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-14

CEF Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-15

CEF Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-16

CEF Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-17

CEF Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-18

CEF Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-19

CEF Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-20

CEF Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-21

CEF Switching Review

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-22

Configuring IP CEF
Router(config)#

ip cef [distributed]

Starts CEF switching and creates the FIB table.

The distributed keyword configures distributed CEF
(running on VIP or line cards).
All CEF-capable interfaces run CEF switching.
Router(config-if)#

no ip route-cache cef

Disables CEF switching on an interface

Usually not needed
2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-23

Monitoring IP CEF
Router#show
Router#show
ip
cef
detail
Router#show ip
ip cef
cef detail
detail
IP
CEF
with
switching
IP CEF with switching (Table
(Table Version
Version 6),
6), flags=0x0
flags=0x0
66 routes,
routes, 00 reresolve,
reresolve, 00 unresolved
unresolved (0
(0 old,
old, 00 new)
new)
99 leaves,
leaves, 11
11 nodes,
nodes, 12556
12556 bytes,
bytes, 99 inserts,
inserts, 00 invalidations
invalidations
00 load
load sharing
sharing elements,
elements, 00 bytes,
bytes, 00 references
references
22 CEF
resets,
0
revisions
of
existing
CEF resets, 0 revisions of existing leaves
leaves
refcounts:
543
leaf,
544
node
refcounts: 543 leaf, 544 node
Adjacency
Adjacency Table
Table has
has 44 adjacencies
adjacencies
0.0.0.0/32,
0.0.0.0/32, version
version 0,
0, receive
receive
192.168.3.1/32,
version
192.168.3.1/32, version 3,
3, cached
cached adjacency
adjacency to
to Serial0/0.10
Serial0/0.10
00 packets,
0
bytes
packets, 0 bytes
tag
tag information
information set
set
local
local tag:
tag: 28
28
fast
fast tag
tag rewrite
rewrite with
with Se0/0.10,
Se0/0.10, point2point,
point2point, tags
tags imposed:
imposed: {28}
{28}
via
192.168.3.10,
Serial0/0.10,
0
dependencies
via 192.168.3.10, Serial0/0.10, 0 dependencies
next
next hop
hop 192.168.3.10,
192.168.3.10, Serial0/0.10
Serial0/0.10
valid
cached
adjacency
valid cached adjacency
tag
tag rewrite
rewrite with
with Se0/0.10,
Se0/0.10, point2point,
point2point, tags
tags imposed:
imposed: {28}
{28}

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-24

Summary
Three different switching mechanisms are used on Cisco
IOS platforms.
Entries received with no destination address information
are process-switched; subsequent packets are
fast-switched.
Generation of entries in the FIB table is caused by a
change trigger; when something in the routing table
changes, the change is also reflected in the FIB table.
CEF is configured globally.
show ip cef is the command used to monitor CEF
operation.

2003, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

MPLS v2.03-25