Network switch device for routing network traffic through an inline tool
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving, at a first network port of a network device, a packet from a first network node external to the network device, the packet being destined for a second network node external to the network device; and
routing the packet, without modifying the packet, from the first network port to a first tool port of the network device for transmission to an external inline tool, wherein routing the packet from the first network port to the first tool port includes applying a MAC address learning mechanism to the packet received at the first network port, wherein the MAC address learning mechanism associates a MAC address corresponding to the packet with the first network port, and not applying a packet forwarding mechanism to the packet received at the first network port, and subsequently routing the packet from a second tool port of the network device to a second network port of the network device for transmission to the second network node, and wherein routing the packet to the second network node includes not applying the MAC address learning mechanism to the packet received at the second tool port and applying the packet forwarding mechanism to the packet received at the second tool port, wherein the packet forwarding mechanism is a mechanism for forwarding packets based on MAC addresses associated with the first network port.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Introduced here is a technique for using a network switch device, which may include commodity switching fabric, to route packets through an inline tool, without introducing any additional information to the packets. The introduced technique modifies standard capability of packet forwarding and learning port-to-MAC address associations to route data packets through the inline tool. The technique may include applying two override settings to the network device. A first override setting involves a forwarding rule that is based on the arrival port and the content of the packet. A second override setting involves disabling the MAC address learning mechanism for the packet received from the inline tool via the second tool port of the network device.
47 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving, at a first network port of a network device, a packet from a first network node external to the network device, the packet being destined for a second network node external to the network device; and routing the packet, without modifying the packet, from the first network port to a first tool port of the network device for transmission to an external inline tool, wherein routing the packet from the first network port to the first tool port includes applying a MAC address learning mechanism to the packet received at the first network port, wherein the MAC address learning mechanism associates a MAC address corresponding to the packet with the first network port, and not applying a packet forwarding mechanism to the packet received at the first network port, and subsequently routing the packet from a second tool port of the network device to a second network port of the network device for transmission to the second network node, and wherein routing the packet to the second network node includes not applying the MAC address learning mechanism to the packet received at the second tool port and applying the packet forwarding mechanism to the packet received at the second tool port, wherein the packet forwarding mechanism is a mechanism for forwarding packets based on MAC addresses associated with the first network port. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A network device comprising:
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a plurality of network ports through which to receive and transmit a packet between network nodes external to the network device; a plurality of tool ports through which to communicate with an inline tool; a switching fabric coupled to each of the network ports and each of the tool ports; and a processing unit coupled to the network ports and the tool ports, the processing unit configured to control the network device to; receive, at a first network port of the network ports, a packet from a first network node of the network nodes, the packet being for transmission to a second network node of the network nodes; route the packet from the first network port to a first tool port of the network device and from the first tool port to a second tool port of the network device, wherein routing the packet from the first network port to the first tool port includes applying a MAC address learning mechanism to the packet received at the first network port that associates a MAC address corresponding to the packet with the first network port and not applying a packet forwarding mechanism to the packet received at the first network port; and route the packet to a second network port of the network ports from the second tool port of the network device for transmission to the second network node, wherein routing the packet to the second network node includes not applying the MAC address learning mechanism to the packet received at the second tool port and applying the packet forwarding mechanism to the packet received at the second tool port, wherein the packet forwarding mechanism forwards the packet based on the MAC address being associated with the first network port; wherein the packet is transmitted from the first network node, through the inline tool, and to the second network node without modifying information in the packet. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification