What does the Content-Addressable Memory (CAM) table primarily store?

What does the Content-Addressable Memory (CAM) table primarily store?

• A. Routing Information
• B. MAC Addresses
• C. IP Addresses
• D. VLAN IDs

Answer: (B)

The Content-Addressable Memory (CAM) table primarily stores MAC addresses. This specialized memory is utilized in network switches to facilitate the mapping of MAC addresses to specific ports on the switch. When a switch receives a frame, it examines the source MAC address and records it in the CAM table along with the associated port. This allows the switch to efficiently forward frames to the correct destination port based on the MAC address, optimizing the network's performance by minimizing unnecessary flooding of frames. The CAM table is crucial for switch operation, as it helps in making forwarding decisions, enhancing the speed and efficiency of data transmission within a local area network (LAN). By storing only MAC addresses, the switch can avoid the need to look up information in a more complex manner, leading to quicker data handling. In contrast, routing information pertains to packet forwarding across different networks and is maintained in routing tables, while IP addresses are used at a different layer (Layer 3) of the OSI model for routing decisions. Similarly, VLAN IDs relate to logical segmentation of networks and are handled differently, not stored within the CAM table.

The Content-Addressable Memory (CAM) table primarily stores MAC addresses. This specialized memory is utilized in network switches to facilitate the mapping of MAC addresses to specific ports on the switch. When a switch receives a frame, it examines the source MAC address and records it in the CAM table along with the associated port. This allows the switch to efficiently forward frames to the correct destination port based on the MAC address, optimizing the network's performance by minimizing unnecessary flooding of frames.

The CAM table is crucial for switch operation, as it helps in making forwarding decisions, enhancing the speed and efficiency of data transmission within a local area network (LAN). By storing only MAC addresses, the switch can avoid the need to look up information in a more complex manner, leading to quicker data handling.

In contrast, routing information pertains to packet forwarding across different networks and is maintained in routing tables, while IP addresses are used at a different layer (Layer 3) of the OSI model for routing decisions. Similarly, VLAN IDs relate to logical segmentation of networks and are handled differently, not stored within the CAM table.