Systems And Methods To Forward Packets Not Passed By Criteria-Based Filters In Packet Forwarding Systems

• US 20160352626A1
• Filed: 05/27/2015
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Keysight Technologies Singapore (Holdings) Pte. Limited. (Keysight Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ixia (Keysight Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Boyd, Ramona, Spooner, Andrew, Abkowitz, Patricia A., Pleshek, Ronald A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,992,134 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/253 using establishment or release of connections between ports

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed to forward packets not passed by criteria-based filters in packet forwarding systems. The disclosed embodiments include one or more Not Passed By Criteria (NPBC) filters that are defined for input ports along with one or more criteria-based filters, such as for example, Pass by Criteria (PBC) filters and/or Deny by Criteria filters (DBC), that forward packets not passed by these criteria-based filters. NPBC filters include, for example, Pass Unmatched PBC filters associated with PBC filters and configured to forward packets not passed by PBC filters and/or Pass Matched DBC filters associated with DBC filters and configured to forward packets not passed by DBC filters. Using one or more NPBC filters within the disclosed embodiments, packet data that is not being passed along to output ports by the criteria-based filters can be easily passed to one or more designated output ports.

Claims

1. A packet forwarding system for network packets, comprising:

input ports configured to receive packets from one or more network sources;

output ports configured to send packets to one or more network destinations;

filter engines configured to determine how packets are forwarded by packet forwarding circuitry from the input ports to the output ports based upon packet forwarding rules;

a user interface configured to allow configuration of one or more by-criteria (BC) filters and one or more not-passed-by-criteria (NPBC) filters for a common input port, each BC filter being configured to pass packets received from the common input port to at least one output port based upon at least one criterion relating to the received packets, and each NPBC filter being configured to pass received packets not passed by the BC filters to at least one output port; and

a filter processor configured to generate packet forwarding rules for the filter engines based upon the one or more BC filters and the one or more NPBC filters and to apply the packet forwarding rules to the filter engines.

2. The packet forwarding system of claim 1, wherein the one or more BC filters comprises one or more pass-by-criteria (PBC) filters coupled to the common input port, each PBC filter being configured to pass received packets that match at least one criterion relating to the received packets from the common input port to at least one output port.

3. The packet forwarding system of claim 2, wherein the one or more NPBC filters comprises a pass unmatched PBC filter coupled to the common input port, the pass unmatched PBC filter being configured to pass received packets that do not match any of the PBC filters from the common input port to at least one output port.

4. The packet forwarding system of claim 3, wherein the at least one output port for the pass unmatched PBC filter is different from the at least one output port for the PBC filters.

5. The packet forwarding system of claim 1, wherein the one or more BC filters comprises one or more deny-by-criteria (DBC) filters coupled to the common input port, each DBC filter being configured to pass received packets that do not match at least one criterion relating to the received packets from the common input port to at least one output port.

6. The packet forwarding system of claim 5, wherein the one or more NPBC filters comprises a pass matched DBC filter coupled to the common input port, the pass matched DBC filter being configured to pass received packets that match all of the DBC filters from the common input port to at least one output port.

7. The packet forwarding system of claim 6, wherein the at least one output port for the pass matched DBC filter is different from the at least one output port for the DBC filters.

8. The packet forwarding system of claim 1, wherein the one or more BC filters comprises:

one or more pass-by-criteria (PBC) filters coupled to the common input port, each PBC filter being configured to pass received packets that match at least one criterion relating to the received packets from the common input port to at least one output port; and

one or more deny-by-criteria (DBC) filters coupled to the common input port, each DBC filter being configured to pass received packets that do not match at least one criterion relating to the received packets from the common input port to at least one output port.

9. The packet forwarding system of claim 8, wherein the one or more NPBC filters comprises:

a pass unmatched PBC filter coupled to the common input port, the pass unmatched PBC filter being configured to pass received packets that do not match any of the PBC filters from the common input port to at least one output port; and

a pass matched DBC filter coupled to the common input port, the pass matched DBC filter being configured to pass received packets that match all of the DBC filters from the common input port to at least one output port.

10. The packet forwarding system of claim 9, wherein the at least one output port for the pass unmatched PBC filter is different from the at least one output port for the PBC filters, and wherein the at least one output port for the pass matched DBC filter is different from the at least one output port for the DBC filters.

11. A method to forward network packets within a packet forwarding system, comprising:

allowing a user to define through a user interface for a packet forwarding system one or more by-criteria (BC) filters and one or more not-passed-by-criteria (NPBC) filters for a common input port, each BC filter being configured to pass packets received from the common input port to at least one output port based upon at least one criterion relating to received packets, and each NPBC filter being configured to pass received packets not passed by the BC filters to at least one output port;

generating packet forwarding rules based upon the one or more BC filters and the one or more NPBC filters;

applying the packet forwarding rules to filter engines within the packet forwarding system, the filter engines being configured to determine how packets are forwarded between input ports and output ports within the packet forwarding system;

receiving, with the common input port, packets from one or more network sources;

passing received packets to at least one output port for the packet forwarding system based upon the one or more BC filters; and

forwarding received packets not passed by the BC filters to at least one output port for the packet forwarding system based upon the one or more NPBC filters.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more BC filters comprises one or more pass-by-criteria (PBC) filters coupled to the common input port, each PBC filter being configured to pass received packets that match at least one criterion relating to the received packets from the common input port to at least one output port, and wherein the passing comprises passing received packets that match the one or more PBC filters to at least one output port.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more NPBC filters comprises a pass unmatched PBC filter coupled to the common input port, the pass unmatched PBC filter being configured to pass received packets that do not match any of the PBC filters from the common input port to at least one output port, and wherein the forwarding comprises forwarding received packets that do not match the one or more PBC filters to at least one output port.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one output port for the pass unmatched PBC filter is different from the at least one output port for the PBC filters.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more BC filters comprises one or more deny-by-criteria (DBC) filters coupled to the common input port, each DBC filter being configured to pass received packets that do not match at least one criterion relating to the received packets from the common input port to at least one output port, and wherein the passing comprises passing received packets that do not match the one or more DBC filters to at least one output port.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the one or more NPBC filters comprises a pass matched DBC filter coupled to the common input port, the pass matched DBC filter being configured to pass received packets that match all of the DBC filters from the common input port to at least one output port, and wherein the forwarding comprises forwarding received packets that match the one or more DBC filters to at least one output port.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one output port for the pass matched DBC filter is different from the at least one output port for the DBC filters.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more BC filters comprises:

one or more pass-by-criteria (PBC) filters coupled to the common input port, each PBC filter being configured to pass received packets that match at least one criterion relating to the received packets from the common input port to at least one output port; and

one or more deny-by-criteria (DBC) filters coupled to the common input port, each DBC filter being configured to pass received packets that do not match at least one criterion relating to the received packets from the common input port to at least one output port; and

wherein the passing comprises;

passing received packets that match the one or more PBC filters to at least one output port; and

passing received packets that do not match the one or more DBC filters to at least one output port.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the one or more NPBC filters comprises:

a pass unmatched PBC filter coupled to the common input port, the pass unmatched PBC filter being configured to pass received packets that do not match any of the PBC filters from the common input port to at least one output port; and

a pass matched DBC filter coupled to the common input port, the pass matched DBC filter being configured to pass received packets that match all of the DBC filters from the common input port to at least one output port; and

wherein the forwarding comprises;

forwarding received packets that do not match the one or more PBC filters to at least one output port; and

forwarding received packets that match the one or more DBC filters to at least one output port.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the at least one output port for the pass unmatched PBC filter is different from the at least one output port for the PBC filters, and wherein the at least one output port for the pass matched DBC filter is different from the at least one output port for the DBC filters.