What table is used to decide if a frame is permitted to be forwarded based on ACLs?

The table used to decide if a frame is permitted to be forwarded based on Access Control Lists (ACLs) is the TCAM Table. TCAM, or Ternary Content Addressable Memory, is specialized memory used in networking devices to perform fast lookups for various types of data, including access control decisions.

In the context of ACLs, TCAM allows switches and routers to efficiently store and retrieve rules that define whether a particular packet or frame meets the criteria for forwarding. This is particularly important in environments with complex ACLs where multiple parameters need to be evaluated quickly to maintain performance.

TCAM supports three states for each entry (0, 1, and don’t care), which enables it to handle ACL conditions that involve wildcarded addresses or multiple matching criteria effectively. This ability to compare packets against a variety of conditions rapidly is what makes TCAM essential for implementing ACLs in high-speed networks.

To clarify the other options without focusing on their deficiencies: the Forwarding Information Base is primarily concerned with determining how to forward packets based on IP routing rather than ACLs. The MAC address table is used for layer 2 forwarding decisions based on MAC addresses, and Content Addressable Memory typically refers to memory structures that can perform associative searches