摘要 |
A method, data processing system, and computer program product are provided for retrieving access rules using a plurality of subtables. An incoming packet that includes fields of data is received from a network. A key is formed from the fields, the key includes a number of subkeys. The subkeys are selected and each of the selected subkeys is used to search a different subtable. If a subtable entry is a pointer, a next level subtable is searched until a failure or data is encountered. If a failure occurs, a default rule is applied. If data is encountered, the key is masked using a stored mask value. The resulting masked key is compared to a stored rule. If they match, the identified rule is applied, otherwise the default rule is applied.
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