Patent ID: 9608937
Date: 2017-03-28
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method for processing network traffic by a network device, the method comprising: configuring first classification rules and second classification rules in the network device, the network device including a switch fabric and a switch controller, wherein the switch fabric switches packets in hardware based on the first classification rules and the switch controller switches packets utilizing a processor based on the second classification rules; receiving a packet at the network device; determining by the switch fabric if the packet matches any of the first classification rules; when the packet matches any one of the first classification rules, switching the packet by the switch fabric based on the matched one of the first classification rules; and when the packet does not match any of the first classification rules, sending the packet from the switch fabric to the switch controller for processing of the packet by the switch controller; wherein each first classification rule includes a classification criteria and an action, wherein the classification criteria for a rule is configurable to be based on one or more parameters selected from a group consisting of a media access control (MAC) address, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) parameter, a user datagram protocol (UDP) parameter, a TCP port, an IPSec security association, a virtual local area network (VLAN) tag, a 802.1Q VLAN tag, and a 802.1Q-in-Q VLAN tag.