Patent ID: 8811412
Filing Date: 2014-08-19
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of steering data communications packets for transparent, bump-in-the-wire data processing among multiple service applications, the method implemented with link-level data communications switching apparatus disposed among two or more data communications networks, the method comprising: receiving, in a steering control engine of the switching apparatus from a source network, data communications packets directed to a destination network, the switching apparatus comprising: selecting, by the steering control engine for each packet, an instance of each of the service applications to process the packet; identifying, by the steering control engine for each packet, a server selection value comprising a single integer value that yields, by a plurality of modulus operations, server selection modulus values that identify each instance of each of the plurality of service applications to process the packet; and steering, by the switches in dependence upon the server selection modulus values, each packet to each instance of each of the plurality of service applications to process the packet.