Patent ID: 7420929
Filing Date: 2008-09-02
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: generating forwarding information that associates routing prefixes for network destinations with next hops for respective routes through a network, wherein the forwarding information includes: (i) forwarding data to control forwarding traffic having the routing prefixes, and (ii) analysis control data for selectively enabling traffic flow analysis for individual ones of the routing prefixes; receiving network packets from one or more network links; associating the network packets with respective routing prefixes in accordance with the forwarding information to identify the respective forwarding data and the analysis control data for each of the packets; calculating traffic flow statistics for the routing prefixes for which traffic flow analysis is enabled by the analysis control data identified for each of the network packets; and forwarding the network packets in accordance with the forwarding information based on the forwarding data identified for each of the packets.