Patent ID: 9742668
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method comprising: receiving, by a forwarding component of a network device from a control unit of the network device, program text for a program that conforms to a syntax for a high-level forwarding path description language (FPDL), wherein the program text defines a forwarding path element; compiling, by the forwarding component, the program text to a platform-independent intermediate representation; compiling, by the forwarding component in response to a request from the control unit, the intermediate representation to generate a forwarding path block having one or more forwarding structures for execution by the forwarding component to process packets; installing, by the forwarding component, the forwarding path block to an internal packet forwarding path of the forwarding component, the forwarding path element comprising one of a lookup tree, a lookup table, a rate limiter, and a counter; receiving, by the forwarding component, a packet; and processing, by the forwarding component, the received packet by executing the forwarding path block including the forwarding path element.