Routing Engine &

Packet Forwarding Engine

Routing Engine
• RE is the brain of the device,
responsible for performing Routing Engine

protocol updates and system RT FT

management. Control Plane Internal Link
Forwarding Plane
• Based on x86 or PowerPC FT
architecture.
Packet Forwarding Engine
• Maintains routing tables,
bridging table, and primary
forwarding table.
Routing Engine
• Controls the interfaces, chassis
Routing Engine
components, system
management, and access to the RT FT

device. Control Plane

Forwarding Plane
Internal Link

• Provides the CLI and J-Web GUI. FT

• Creates and maintains one or Packet Forwarding Engine

more routing tables. This is used

to create the Forwarding Table
that contains the active routes.
Packet Forwarding Engine
• Usually runs on separate
Routing Engine
hardware.
RT FT

Control Plane Internal Link

• Responsible for forwarding Forwarding Plane

transit traffic through the device. FT

Packet Forwarding Engine

• Receives a copy of the

Forwarding Table (FT) from the
RE using an internal link.
Packet Forwarding Engine
• PFE usually runs on separate
Routing Engine
hardware, and in some cases
uses Application Specific RT FT

Integrated Circuits (ASICs) for Control Plane

Forwarding Plane
Internal Link

increased performance. FT

Packet Forwarding Engine

• Also implements services such as

rate limiting, stateless firewall
filters, and Class of Service (CoS).