LOOKUP FRONT END PACKET OUTPUT PROCESSOR

摘要

A packet processor provides for rule matching of packets in a network architecture. The packet processor includes a lookup cluster complex having a number of lookup engines and respective on-chip memory units. The on-chip memory stores rules for matching against packet data. A lookup front-end receives lookup requests from a host, and processes these lookup requests to generate key requests for forwarding to the lookup engines. As a result of the rule matching, the lookup engine returns a response message indicating whether a match is found. The lookup front-end further processes the response message and provides a corresponding response to the host.

主权项

1. A method of processing a packet comprising:
merging a plurality of sub-tree responses from a processing cluster, the processing cluster performing rule matching for a packet, the plurality of sub-tree responses being responsive to lookup requests associated with the packet; and outputting a lookup result to a host processor, the lookup result including at least one of the plurality of sub-tree responses based on relative priority of the plurality of sub-tree responses.