Address translation mechanism for a high-performance network switch
First Claim
1. An address translation mechanism for quickly rendering forwarding decisions for data frames transported among ports of a high-performance switch, the translation mechanism comprising:
- a plurality of forwarding tables, each table containing entries having unique index values that translate to selection signals for ports destined to receive the data frames;
means for transforming a numerical quantity to a key value for accessing a selected table entry; and
a comparison circuit arrangement for validating the contents of the selected table entry, the circuit arrangement comparing he numerical quantity with a similar value stored in the selected entry to ensure that the contents of the entry contain a correct unique index value.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An address translation mechanism quickly and efficiently renders forwarding decisions for data flames transported among ports of a high-performance switch on the basis of, inter alia, virtual local area network (VLAN) associations among the ports. The translation mechanism comprises a plurality of forwarding tables, each of which contains entries having unique index values that translate to selection signals for ports destined to received the data frames. Each port is associated with a unique index value and a VLAN identifier to facilitate multicast data transfers within the switch at accelerated speeds and addressing capabilities.
481 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. An address translation mechanism for quickly rendering forwarding decisions for data frames transported among ports of a high-performance switch, the translation mechanism comprising:
-
a plurality of forwarding tables, each table containing entries having unique index values that translate to selection signals for ports destined to receive the data frames; means for transforming a numerical quantity to a key value for accessing a selected table entry; and a comparison circuit arrangement for validating the contents of the selected table entry, the circuit arrangement comparing he numerical quantity with a similar value stored in the selected entry to ensure that the contents of the entry contain a correct unique index value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. Apparatus for quickly and efficiently rendering forwarding decisions for a data frame transferred among ports of a network switch via a bus, the data frame containing a media access control (MAC) address of a network entity destined to receive the frame and a color identifier representing a virtual local area network association of the port transferring the frame over the bus, the apparatus comprising:
-
a bus interface circuit for parsing the data frame to extract the MAC address and color identifer; means, responsive to the extracted MAC address and color identifier, for producing an index value; and a target logic circuit coupled to the producing means, the target logic circuit translating the index value to a coded signal that selects one of a port and group of ports for receiving the data frame. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A method for quickly and efficiently rendering forwarding decisions for a data frame transferred among ports of a network switch in accordance with a bus transaction over a switching bus, the method comprising the steps of:
-
A. parsing the data frame at a forwarding engine to extract a media access control (MAC) address and color identifer value from the frame, the MAC address specifying the destination address of a network entity receiving the frame and the color identifier value representing a virtual local area network association of the port transferring the frame through the switch; B. producing an index value in response to the extracted MAC address and color identifier at a translation circuit of the engine; and C. translating the index value to a coded signal at a target logic circuit, the coded signal selecting one of a port and group of ports for receiving the frame. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification