Network switch
First Claim
1. A network switch for switching packets from a source to a destination, said network switch comprising:
- a source port for receiving an incoming packet from a source;
a destination port which contains a path to a destination for the packet;
a filter unit for constructing and applying a filter to selected fields of the incoming packet, said filter unit comprising filtering logic for selecting desired fields of the incoming packet and obtaining selected field information therefrom, said filtering logic constructing a field value based upon the selected fields, wherein the filtering logic applies a plurality stored field masks on the field value to create a filter value;
said switch further comprisinga rules table which contains a plurality of rules therein, wherein the filtering logic performs a lookup of the rules table in order to determine actions which must be taken;
and wherein the filtering logic is configured to concatenate the filter value with at least one predetermined packet field to create a search key and the lookup of the rules table is made using the search key as a key to the rules table.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A network switch for switching packets from a source to a destination includes a source port for receiving an incoming packet from a source, a destination port which contains a path to a destination for the packet, and a filter unit for constructing and applying a filter to selected fields of the incoming packet. The filter unit further includes filtering logic for selecting desired fields of the incoming packet and copying selected field information therefrom. The filtering logic also constructs a field value based upon the selected fields, and applies a plurality stored field masks on the field value. The switch additionally includes a rules table which contains a plurality of rules therein. The filtering logic is configured to perform lookups of the rules table in order to determine actions which must be taken based upon the result of a comparison between the field value and the stored filter masks and the rules table lookup.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A network switch for switching packets from a source to a destination, said network switch comprising:
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a source port for receiving an incoming packet from a source; a destination port which contains a path to a destination for the packet; a filter unit for constructing and applying a filter to selected fields of the incoming packet, said filter unit comprising filtering logic for selecting desired fields of the incoming packet and obtaining selected field information therefrom, said filtering logic constructing a field value based upon the selected fields, wherein the filtering logic applies a plurality stored field masks on the field value to create a filter value;
said switch further comprisinga rules table which contains a plurality of rules therein, wherein the filtering logic performs a lookup of the rules table in order to determine actions which must be taken; and wherein the filtering logic is configured to concatenate the filter value with at least one predetermined packet field to create a search key and the lookup of the rules table is made using the search key as a key to the rules table. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for filtering packets on a network switch, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a packet on a port of a network switch; performing address resolution based upon a source address and a destination address in said incoming packet; applying at least one mask to a field value in the packet to create a filter value; concatenating the filter value with at least one predetermined packet field to create a search key; searching a rules table with the search key to determine if a match exists; and performing action as specified by the rules table based upon a match of the search key with a rules table entry. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification