Packet processing switch and methods of operation thereof

摘要

A packet processing integrated circuit chip includes a plurality of input ports configured to receive packets from respective external sources and a plurality of output ports configured to transmit packets to respective external recipients. The chip further includes a packet processor configured to process the received packets to generate new packets with new payloads according to selected ones of a plurality of packet processing scenarios based on destination addresses in the received packets. The plurality of packet processing scenarios may include individual packet processing scenarios and group packet processing scenarios that invoke parallel processing of a packet by selected ones of the individual packet processing scenarios. The chip may further include a packet switching fabric configured to route selected packets from the input ports to selected ones of the output ports without payload modification.