CONDITIONAL ACTION FOLLOWING TCAM FILTERS

摘要

A method for providing a conditional action following TCAM lookup is disclosed. The method for providing a conditional action following TCAM lookup includes obtaining data; generating a lookup key from the data; performing a TCAM lookup using the key; and in the event the TCAM lookup generates a match, then performing an test to determine if there is exists a condition associated with the action associated with that match, and in the event the there is a condition, evaluating said condition associated with the action of that match entry; and in the event that said condition is satisfied, then performing a conditional action. The data may be from a communications packet header, the condition evaluation may be one of packet length or Time to Live (TTL) value, and the action taken may be one of dropping or forwarding a communications packet. The method for providing a conditional action following TCAM lookup is particularly useful for reducing the quantity of entries in a TCAM of TCAM filters known in the art.

主权项

1. A method for conditional filtering following a TCAM lookup, the method comprising the steps of:
obtaining data; generating a lookup key from said data; performing a TCAM lookup using said key; and in the event the TCAM lookup generates a match, then performing an test to determine if there is exists a condition associated with the action associated with that match, and in the event the there is a condition, evaluating said condition associated with the action of that match entry; and in the event that said condition is satisfied, then performing a conditional action.