Scalable low latency multi-protocol networking device

摘要

A network device receives a packet that includes a plurality of sets of fields. Sets of fields of the packet are parsed and the field sets are evaluated as soon as they are available to determine whether a processing decision can be made on the packet. Additional field sets may be parsed from the packet and obtained in parallel with determining whether a processing decision can be made, but once it is determined that a processing decision can be made, the evaluating of field sets is terminated such that any further field sets of the packet are ignored for purposes of making a processing decision for the packet.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
receiving packets at each of a plurality of ports of a network device, each packet including a plurality field sets, each field set including one or more fields; parsing field sets from the packets received at each of the ports to generate multiple field sets for each packet received at a corresponding port; providing a plurality of decision logic units each configured to determine whether a processing decision is able to be made for a packet based on a particular field set of the packet, and supplying field sets obtained from the parsing to corresponding decision logic units; evaluating field sets of the packet with the plurality of decision logic units to determine whether a processing decision is able to be made on the packet as soon as field sets are available and in parallel with said parsing; terminating the evaluating of field sets once it is determined that a processing decision is able to be made such that any further field sets of the packet not yet evaluated are ignored for purposes of making a processing decision for the packet.