IP CEF in a router

Question

Hi Guys,
I am trying to understand more about how cef works in a router.
If we disable, cef and fast switching in a router, then all the packet will be processed by the hardware itself. ie, processing switching means the actual router hardware is taking care of the packets
CEF and fast-switching are software based packet switching. ie, in software, they have written which outgoing interface to select and how the L2 header is to be re-written.
Am I correct in my understanding?
CF

Answer 1

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BTW, using Jon's example of the EoL 7200, all the NPEs did all packet forwarding using the main CPU.  However the NSE-1 (and 7300s' NSE-100 and NSE-150) had special hardware, their PXF, to accelerate packet forwarding.  (Also BTW, the ASR1K series, with its Quantum Flow hardware, is also special hardware to accelerate packet forwarding.)
Again, you need to examine sales literature and/or datasheets.  Hardware acceleration is usually listed as a major feature.  (Oh, one clue, if overall performance starts to exceed a couple of gig, special hardware is usually doing it.)