Hardware-accelerated packet multicasting

摘要

Methods and systems for hardware-accelerated packet multicasting are provided. According to one embodiment, a multicast packet is received at an ingress system of a packet-forwarding engine (PFE). Multiple flow classification indices are identified for the multicast packet by the ingress system. The multiple flow classification indices are sent to an egress system of the PFE by the ingress system. A single copy of the multicast packet is buffered in a memory accessible by the egress system. Corresponding transform control instructions are identified by the egress system based on each flow classification index. The single copy of the multicast packet is read from the memory. The multicast packet is transformed to an outgoing packet for each instance of the multicast packet based on the corresponding transform control instructions. The outgoing packet is transmitted for routing to a network.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
receiving a multicast packet at an ingress system of a packet-forwarding engine (PFE); identifying, by the ingress system, a plurality of flow classification indices for the multicast packet; sending, by the ingress system, the plurality of flow classification indices to an egress system of the PFE; buffering a single copy of the multicast packet in a memory accessible by the egress system; identifying, by the egress system, corresponding transform control instructions based on each flow classification index of the plurality of flow classification indices; reading the single copy of the multicast packet from the memory; transforming the multicast packet to an outgoing packet for each instance of the multicast packet based on the corresponding transform control instructions; and transmitting the outgoing packet for routing to a network.