Apparatus and method for two-stage packet classification using most specific filter matching and transport level sharing
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- providing a plurality of bins stored in a memory, each of the bins including a number of rules, each rule specifying a source port range and a destination port range;
identifying, from the plurality of bins, a bin corresponding to a network path and a protocol of a received packet;
comparing a source port and a destination port of the received packet with the rules of the corresponding bin; and
if the source port of the received packet is within the source port range of a rule and the destination port of the received packet is within the destination port range of the rule, applying an action associated with the rule to the received packet.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for two-stage packet classification. In the first stage, which may be implemented in software, a packet is classified on the basis of the packet'"'"'s network path and, perhaps, its protocol. In the second stage, which may be implemented in hardware, the packet is classified on the basis of one or more transport level fields of the packet. An apparatus of two-stage packet classification may include a processing system for first stage code execution, a classification circuit for performing the second stage of classification, and a memory to store a number of bins, each bin including one or more rules.
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Citations
59 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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providing a plurality of bins stored in a memory, each of the bins including a number of rules, each rule specifying a source port range and a destination port range;
identifying, from the plurality of bins, a bin corresponding to a network path and a protocol of a received packet;
comparing a source port and a destination port of the received packet with the rules of the corresponding bin; and
if the source port of the received packet is within the source port range of a rule and the destination port of the received packet is within the destination port range of the rule, applying an action associated with the rule to the received packet. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method comprising:
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identifying, from a plurality of bins stored in a memory, a bin corresponding to a network path of a received packet, each of the bins including a number of rules;
issuing a command to a classification circuit, the command identifying the corresponding bin;
copying the rules of the corresponding bin from the memory to the classification circuit, wherein the classification circuit compares at least one transport level field of the received packet with each of the rules and provides a match signal if a rule matches the at least one transport level field of the packet; and
in response to the match signal, applying an action associated with the matching rule to the received packet. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. An apparatus comprising:
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a memory, the memory having a plurality of bins stored therein, each bin including a number of rules;
a processing system, the processing system programmed to identify, from the plurality of bins, a bin corresponding to a network path of a received packet; and
a classification circuit coupled with the memory and the processing system, the classification circuit to identify, from the rules of the corresponding bin, a rule matching at least one transport level field of the packet. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A system comprising:
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a bus;
a processing device coupled with the bus, the processing device including a memory, the memory having a plurality of bins stored therein, each bin including a number of rules, a processing engine, the processing engine programmed to identify, from the plurality of bins, a bin corresponding to a network path of a received packet, and a classification circuit coupled with the memory and the processing engine, the classification circuit to identify, from the rules of the corresponding bin, a rule matching at least one transport level field of the packet; and
a network interface coupled with the bus, the network interface to couple the system with an optical link. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. An article of manufacture comprising:
a machine accessible medium providing content that, when accessed by a machine, causes the machine to identify, from a plurality of bins stored in a memory, a bin corresponding to a network path of a received packet, each of the bins including a number of rules;
issue a command to a classification circuit, the command identifying the corresponding bin;
copy the rules of the corresponding bin from the memory to the classification circuit, wherein the classification circuit compares at least one transport level field of the received packet with each of the rules and provides a match signal if a rule matches the at least one transport level field of the packet; and
in response to the match signal, apply an action associated with the matching rule to the received packet. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
Specification