In-line packet processing

• US 8,867,543 B2
• Filed: 11/11/2011
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Oskouy, Rasoul Mirzazadeh, Ferguson, Dennis C., Ju, Hann-Hwan, Lim, Raymond Marcelino Manese, Sindhu, Pradeep S., Veeragandham, Sreeram, Zimmer, Jeff, Hui, Michael M. Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): SWEET, LONNIE V
• Application Number:
  US13/294,543
• Publication Number:
  US 20120057597A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,075 Days
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/08 Error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation, e.g. by using checking codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0041 Arrangements at the transmitter end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/56 Packet switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5601 Transfer mode dependent, e.g. ATM
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5652 Cell construction, e.g. including header, packetisation, depacketisation, assembly, reassembly
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5679 Arbitration or scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/20 Hop count for routing purposes, e.g. TTL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/60 Router architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6225 Fixed service order, e.g. Round Robin
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/103 using a shared central buffer; using a shared memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/108 using shared central buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/203 ATM switching fabrics with multicast or broadcast capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 Routing or path finding in a switch fabric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/254 Centralised controller, i.e. arbitration or scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/30 Peripheral units, e.g. input or output ports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3009 Header conversion, routing tables or routing tags
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3063 Pipelined operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3081 ATM peripheral units, e.g. policing, insertion or extraction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/555 : Error detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/602 : Multilayer or multiprotocol switching, e.g. IP switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/608 : ATM switches adapted to switch variable length packets, e.g. IP packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/90 : Buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/901 : using storage descriptor, e.g. read or write pointers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9047 : including multiple buffers, e.g. buffer pools
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 : Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 : Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 : Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/324 : in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 : Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0478 : Provisions for broadband connections

Abstract

A method and apparatus for in-line processing a data packet while routing the packet through a router in a system transmitting data packets between a source and a destination over a network including the router. The method includes receiving the data packet and pre-processing layer header data for the data packet as the data packet is received and prior to transferring any portion of the data packet to packet memory. The data packet is thereafter stored in the packet memory. A routing through the router is determined including a next hop index describing the next connection in the network. The data packet is retrieved from the packet memory and a new layer header for the data packet is constructed from the next hop index while the data packet is being retrieved from memory. The new layer header is coupled to the data packet prior to transfer from the router.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

an input queue to store a data packet;

a buffer to store a plurality of data blocks from the data packet,

a data block, of the plurality of data blocks, being associated with a first data size; and

a processor to;

identify control information included in the data block,

modify the data block to remove, from the data block, the identified control information,

the identified control information being associated with a second data size,

acquire, based on the first data size and the second data size, additional data included in the data packet,

the additional data being associated with a third data size,

when acquiring the additional data, the processor is to;

select another data block of the plurality of data blocks,

 

the other data block being associated with a fourth data size that is greater than or equal to the third data size,

 

the other data block being selected when the fourth data size is less than the first data size, and

obtain the additional data from the other data block, and

add the additional data to the modified data block.

2. The device of claim 1, where the control information comprises layer two (L2) header information associated with the data packet.

3. The device of claim 2, where the processor is further to:

determine a location of the L2 header information in the data packet, and

identify, based on the determined location of the L2 header information, the data block in the buffer.

4. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a state queue to store, for the plurality of data blocks, state codes that indicate a sequence order of the plurality of data blocks within the data packet.

5. The device of claim 4, where the state codes include an indication that one of plurality of data blocks is one of:

a first data block in the data packet,

a middle data block in the data packet, or

a last data block in the data packet.

6. A method comprising:

dividing, by a network device, a data packet into a plurality of data blocks;

storing, by the network device, the plurality of data blocks in a queue;

storing, by the network device, codes for the plurality of data blocks,

the codes including;

first information associated with respective addresses, in the queue, of the plurality of data blocks, and

second information associated with a sequence order, within the data packet, of the plurality of data blocks;

removing, by the network device, control information from at least one data block of the plurality of data blocks;

removing, by the network device, data from another data block of the plurality of data blocks;

adding, by the network device and to the at least one data block, the data removed from the other data block,

a size of the added data corresponding to a size of the removed control information

modifying the codes based on removing the data from the other data block and adding the data to the at least one data block.

7. The method of claim 6, where each of the plurality of data blocks includes a header portion and a payload portion.

8. The method of claim 7, where the respective addresses include pointers to locations, in the queue, of the payload portions.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

identifying a layer two (L2) header in the data packet,

where the L2 header corresponds to the control information; and

where removing the control information includes removing the L2 header from the at least one data block.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

selecting the other data block based on a size of the other data block.

11. The method of claim 6, where the second information indicates whether each of the plurality of data blocks is one of:

a first data block in the data packet,

a last data block in the data packet, or

a middle data block in the data packet,

where the middle data block is not the first data block or the last data block.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

instructions which, when executed by a network device, cause the network device to store a plurality of data blocks of a data packet;

instructions which, when executed by the network device, cause the network device to store information for the plurality of data blocks in a queue,

the information for the plurality of data blocks including;

first information associated with respective addresses, in the queue, of the plurality of data blocks, and

second information associated with a sequence order, within the data packet, of the plurality of data blocks;

instructions which, when executed by the network device, cause the network device to remove header information from a data block, of the plurality of data blocks, to modify the data block;

instructions which, when executed by the network device, cause the network device to remove data from another data block of the plurality of data blocks;

instructions which, when executed by the network device, cause the network device to add the data, removed from the other data block, to the data block, a size of the added data corresponding to a size to the removed header information; and

instructions which, when executed by the network device, cause the network device to modify the information for the plurality of data blocks based on removing the data from the other data block and adding the data to the data block.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, where the second information indicates whether each data block of the plurality of data blocks is one of:

a first data block in the sequence order,

a last data block in the sequence order, or

a middle data block in the sequence order,

where the middle data block is not the first data block or the last data block.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, where the instructions to remove the header information include:

one or more instructions to remove layer two (L2) header information from the data block.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, where the instructions further comprise:

one or more instructions to form other L2 header information; and

one or more instructions to form a data packet using the other L2 header information.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, where the instructions further comprise:

one or more instructions to identify the data block, in a buffer, based on the L2 header information.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, where the instructions further comprise:

one or more instructions to store additional data from the other data block.