There are characteristics of network switching methods that need to be matched with the correct type of forwarding—either cut-through or store-and-forward. Here’s how they match up:
- Appropriate for high performance computing applications: This is a characteristic of cut-through switching, as it can begin forwarding frames before the entire frame has been received, reducing latency.
- Error checking before forwarding: This is a characteristic of store-and-forward switching because the switch receives the entire frame and checks it for errors before forwarding it.
- Forwarding process can begin after receiving the destination address: This is a characteristic of cut-through switching, as it only needs the destination address to decide where to forward the frame.
- Forwarding process only begins after receiving the entire frame: This is a characteristic of store-and-forward switching, where the switch waits to receive the whole frame to perform error checking before forwarding.
- May forward invalid frames: This could potentially occur with cut-through switching if the error is in the part of the frame that is not examined before forwarding.
- Only forwards valid frames: This is a characteristic of store-and-forward switching because it performs error checking on the entire frame before forwarding.
Cut-through switching has the advantage of lower latency, which is critical for high-performance applications, but runs the risk of forwarding frames with errors because it does not wait to receive the entire frame before making the forwarding decision. On the other hand, store-and-forward switching incurs more latency because it checks the entire frame for errors, ensuring that only valid frames are forwarded.
