Tri-colour data packet counting for tri-colour marking policies

摘要

The invention is directed to counting data packets marked according to tri-color marking techniques. Packets of a packet flow that are marked according to a three color (or tri-color) marking scheme are counted using a counter implemented on a ternary content addressable memory (TCAM). Advantages of some embodiments of the invention are to enable the use of generic and cost-efficient TCAMs to quickly obtain the counts of all three colors of packets in such a packet flow. These counts can be used to provide detailed statistics on characteristics of the packet flow, which can be useful for debugging and accounting purposes.

主权项

1. A method of configuring a tri-color packet counter for counting packets of a data packet flow marked according to a tri-color marking scheme, comprising the steps of:
determining an identifier for the flow; ascertaining if there is a Ternary Content Accessible Memory (TCAM) entry for the identifier;ascertaining, responsive to there being said TCAM entry, if there are three TCAM counters associated with the entry; and
configuring, responsive to there being fewer than three such TCAM counters, one or more TCAM counters associated with the entry so there are a total of at least three TCAM counters associated with the entry.