Volatile memory requires a continuous power supply to maintain the stored information. Static RAM (SRAM) and dynamic RAM (DRAM) are the most common forms, offering extremely fast read and write speeds compared to persistent storage. If the supply voltage drops below a specific threshold, the memory cells discharge and all data is permanently lost.
Heard on the job
Since the routing table is stored in volatile memory, the switch takes a minute to rebuild it after a hard reboot.
Do not mix it up with
- NVM: Volatile memory loses data without power, whereas non-volatile memory retains it permanently.