View source for Forwarding engines / multilayer switch feature cards (MSFC) and routing engines / policy feature cards (PFC)

'''MSFC:'''<br/>
The MSFC is an integral part of the Supervisor Engine, providing high performance, multilayer switching and routing intelligence. Equipped with a high performance processor, the MSFC runs layer 2 protocols on one CPU and layer 3 protocols on the second CPU. These include routing protocol support, layer 2 protocols (Spanning Tree Protocol and VLAN Trunking Protocol for example), and security services.
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The MSFC builds the Cisco Express Forwarding information Base (FIB) table in software and then downloads this table to the hardware Application-specific-integrated circuits (ASICs) on the PFC and Distributed forwarding engine (if present) that make the forwarding decisions for IP unicast and multicast traffic.
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Generations of MSFC-Cards:
* MSFC1
* MSFC2
* MSFC2A
* MFSC3

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'''PFC:'''
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The PFC supports routing and bridging, QoS, and multicast packet replication, and processes security policies such as access control lists (ACLs).
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The PFC is equipped with a high performance ASIC complex supporting a range of hardware based features. The PFC supports IPv4, IPv6 routing and bridging functionality, quality of service (QoS) and multicast forwarded and ACL-based policies.
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Generations of PFC-Cards:
* PFC
* PFC2
* PFC3
* PFC3B
* PFC3BXL
* PFC3CXL
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