Implementing and Operating Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies (ENCOR) — Question 654

What is the benefit of using TCAM for IP forwarding decisions versus using the CAM table?

Answer options

• A. TCAM finds results based on binary, and CAM uses the longest match to find results
• B. TCAM processes lookups in a hardware CPU. and CAM relies on binary masks to find results.
• C. TCAM finds results based on masks, and CAM finds results basing on exact match.
• D. TCAM uses low cost hardware memory to store addresses, and CAM uses expensive hardware memory.

Correct answer: C

Explanation

The correct answer is C because TCAM is designed to support wildcard and mask-based searches, which allows it to find results based on partial matches. In contrast, CAM only supports exact match searches, making TCAM more suitable for tasks like IP forwarding that require flexibility in matching. The other options incorrectly describe the functionalities and characteristics of TCAM and CAM.