The WCCP protocol has a methodology of load balancing with two or more Steelhead appliances. What is the maximum number of buckets used for the HASH assignment?

Question

Options

• A8
• B32
• C64
• D128
• E256

• A
  3% (1)
• B
  8% (3)
• C
  3% (1)
• D
  3% (1)
• E
  83% (30)

Explanation

WCCP's HASH assignment method divides incoming traffic across a table of exactly 256 buckets (2^8), which are distributed among the available Steelhead appliances - making E (256) correct. This fixed bucket count is a core specification of the WCCP v2 protocol's load-balancing design, allowing granular traffic distribution across up to 32 appliances.

The distractors - 8, 32, 64, and 128 - are all powers of two that appear in other networking contexts (e.g., 32 is the maximum number of cache engines in a WCCP service group, which makes it a common trap), but none represent the HASH bucket table size. Confusing the number of appliances (max 32) with the number of buckets (256) is the most likely source of error on this question.

Memory tip: Think "256 = one full byte (8 bits) of hash space." WCCP uses a complete byte's worth of buckets to ensure fine-grained, even distribution - if you remember "full byte = full bucket table," you'll lock in 256 every time.

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