Patent ID: 9049153
Filing Date: 2015-06-02
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of processing a packet at a first managed switching element that implements a logical switching element, along with a plurality of additional managed switching elements, the method comprising: receiving, at an ingress port of the first managed switching element, a packet for processing through the logical switching element's processing pipeline comprising a physical to logical mapping, logical processing, a logical to physical mapping, and physical processing; processing the packet through a portion of the logical processing of the processing pipeline of the logical switching element at the first managed switching element, wherein the logical processing comprises processing the packet against a logical Layer 2 (L2) or Layer 3 (L3) forwarding table; storing context information in the packet that indicates the portion of the processing pipeline through which the packet has been processed in order to prevent the additional managed switching elements from processing the packet through the same portion of the processing pipeline; and forwarding the packet with the stored context information to a second managed switching element of the plurality of additional managed switching elements.