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Software Configuration Guide—Release 15.0(2)SG
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Configuring Cisco Express Forwarding
This chapter describes Cisco Express Forwarding (CEF) on the Catalyst 4500 series switch. It also
provides guidelines, procedures, and examples to configure this feature.
This chapter includes the following major sections:
About CEF, page 31-1
Catalyst 4500 Series Switch Implementation of CEF, page 31-3
CEF Configuration Restrictions, page 31-6
Configuring CEF, page 31-6
Monitoring and Maintaining CEF, page 31-8
Note For complete syntax and usage information for the switch commands used in this chapter, look at the
Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Switch Command Reference and related publications at this location:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps4324/index.html
If the command is not found in the Catalyst 4500 Command Reference, it is located in the larger Cisco
IOS library. Refer to the Cisco IOS Command Reference and related publications at this location:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6350/index.html

About CEF

This section contains information on the two primary components that comprise the CEF operation:
CEF Features, page 31-1
Forwarding Information Base, page 31-2
Adjacency Tables, page 31-2

CEF Features

CEF is advanced Layer 3 IP switching technology that optimizes performance and scalability for large
networks with dynamic traffic patterns or networks with intensive web-based applications and
interactive sessions.