Service processing switch
First Claim
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1. A system for providing Internet Protocol (IP) services, comprising:
- a switch fabric;
a line interface/network module coupled to the switch fabric;
a plurality of virtual routing engines (VREs) coupled to the switch fabric; and
a virtual services engine (VSE) coupled to the switch fabric;
wherein the line interface/network module includes an ingress forwarding manager which maintains a steering table mapping virtual local area networks (VLANs) to one or more VREs of the plurality of VREs, receives packets and steers ingress packets across the switch fabric to a selected VRE of the plurality of VREs and transmits egress packets according to their relative priority;
wherein the selected VRE determines if a packet associated with a packet flow requires processing by the VSE by performing flow-based packet classification on the packet and evaluating forwarding state information associated with previously stored flow learning results based on a previously received packet of the packet flow; and
if the packet is determined to require processing by the VSE, then steering the packet across the switch fabric to the VSE for processing.
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Abstract
A system and method for providing IP services. A packet is received at a line interface/network module and forwarded to a virtual routing engine The virtual routing engine determines if the packet requires processing by a virtual services engine. If the packet requires processing by the virtual services engine, the packet is routed to the virtual services engine for processing.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A system for providing Internet Protocol (IP) services, comprising:
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a switch fabric; a line interface/network module coupled to the switch fabric; a plurality of virtual routing engines (VREs) coupled to the switch fabric; and a virtual services engine (VSE) coupled to the switch fabric; wherein the line interface/network module includes an ingress forwarding manager which maintains a steering table mapping virtual local area networks (VLANs) to one or more VREs of the plurality of VREs, receives packets and steers ingress packets across the switch fabric to a selected VRE of the plurality of VREs and transmits egress packets according to their relative priority; wherein the selected VRE determines if a packet associated with a packet flow requires processing by the VSE by performing flow-based packet classification on the packet and evaluating forwarding state information associated with previously stored flow learning results based on a previously received packet of the packet flow; and if the packet is determined to require processing by the VSE, then steering the packet across the switch fabric to the VSE for processing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A system for providing Internet Protocol (IP) services, comprising:
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a switch fabric; a line interface/network module coupled to the switch fabric; a plurality of virtual routing engines (VREs) coupled to the switch fabric; and a virtual services engine (VSE) coupled to the switch fabric; wherein the line interface/network module receives packets and steers ingress packets across the switch fabric to a selected VRE of the plurality of VREs and transmits egress packets according to their relative priority via an egress forwarding manager of the line interface/network module which applies priority queuing to the egress packets based on DiffServ marking and transmits the egress packets out of the line interface/network module; wherein the selected VRE determines if a packet associated with a packet flow requires processing by the VSE by performing flow-based packet classification on the packet and evaluating forwarding state information associated with previously stored flow learning results based on a previously received packet of the packet flow; and if the packet is determined to require processing by the VSE, then steering the packet across the switch fabric to the VSE for processing. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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9. A method operable within an Internet Protocol (IP) Service Generator (IPSG) system including a switch fabric, a line interface/network module coupled to the switch fabric, a plurality of virtual routing engines (VREs) coupled to the switch fabric, and a virtual services engine (VSE) coupled to the switch fabric, the method comprising:
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maintaining, by an ingress forwarding manager of the line interface/network module, a steering table mapping virtual local area networks (VLANs) to one or more VREs of the plurality of VREs; steering received ingress packets, by the ingress forwarding manager, across the switch fabric to a selected VRE of the plurality of VREs; determining, by the selected VRE, if a packet received from the ingress forwarding manager and associated with a packet flow requires processing by the VSE by performing flow-based packet classification on the packet and evaluating forwarding state information associated with previously stored flow learning results based on a previously received packet of the packet flow; if the packet is determined to require processing by the VSE, then steering the packet, by the selected VRE, across the switch fabric to the VSE for processing; and transmitting received egress packets, by the line interface/network module, according to their relative priority. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. A method operable within an Internet Protocol (IP) Service Generator (IPSG) system including a switch fabric, a line interface/network module coupled to the switch fabric, a plurality of virtual routing engines (VREs) coupled to the switch fabric, and a virtual services engine (VSE) coupled to the switch fabric, the method comprising:
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steering received ingress packets, by the line interface/network module, across the switch fabric to a selected VRE of the plurality of VREs; determining, by the selected VRE, if a packet received from the line interface/network module and associated with a packet flow requires processing by the VSE by performing flow-based packet classification on the packet and evaluating forwarding state information associated with previously stored flow learning results based on a previously received packet of the packet flow; if the packet is determined to require processing by the VSE, then steering the packet, by the selected VRE, across the switch fabric to the VSE for processing; and transmitting received egress packets, by an egress forwarding manager of the line interface/network module, out of the line interface/network module according to their relative priority by applying priority queuing to the received egress packets based on DiffServ marking. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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Specification