Patent ID: 9661031
Date: 2017-05-23
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method comprising: receiving a configuration of a first IP address of a first node on a first side of a switch and a second IP address of a second node on a second side of the switch, wherein the first and second IP addresses are of different domains and are to be translated in each direction with respect to the switch; receiving, from the first or second node, via a physical layer interface of the switch that operates at a line rate, a packet comprising a header and a payload portion, wherein the header and the payload portions each include the first IP address and the second IP address, and wherein the payload portion further includes a MAC address of the first or second node used to establish layer 2 communication between the first and second nodes; based on the configuration, modifying, by a hardware block of the switch, the header portion of the packet so that the first and second IP addresses are changed, wherein the hardware block guarantees that the first and second IP addresses in the header portion of the packet are changed at the line rate of the physical layer interface; and based on the configuration, modifying, by the hardware block of the switch, the payload portion of the packet so that the first and second IP addresses are changed, whereas the MAC address is unchanged, so that layer 2 communication is established between the first and second node, wherein the hardware block guarantees that the first and second IP addresses in the payload portion of the packet are changed at the line rate of the physical layer interface.