Patent ID: 8018875
Filing Date: 2011-09-13
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of steering data communications packets for transparent, bump-in-the-wire processing among multiple service applications, the method carried out in link-level data communications switching apparatus, the switching apparatus comprising at least one link-level data communications switch, the switching apparatus comprising a plurality of data communications ports, at least four of the ports coupling the switching apparatus to at least four data communications networks, the networks organized into at least two pairs of networks, at least two additional ports connected to service applications that carry out transparent, bump-in-the-wire data processing of data communications packets traveling among the networks, each service application associated with a unique, link-level identifier; the switching apparatus further comprising rules governing the steering of data communications among service applications and networks connected to the switching apparatus, the rules configured to permit data communications through the switching apparatus only between networks in a pair, excluding data communications across pairs of networks; the method comprising: receiving, in the switching apparatus through an ingress port from a source network, data communications packets directed to a destination network, the source network and the destination network being members of a same pair of networks, each packet containing a source network address that identifies the source of the packet in the source network, each packet optionally also containing a destination network address that identifies a destination of the packet in the destination network; and steering by the switching apparatus each packet among the service applications and through an egress port to the destination network, the steering carried out only in accordance with the rules, wherein each rule includes an association of an ingress port and a switch egress, and wherein the rules include at least one rule that further includes at least one network code that identifies a network pair and a direction of travel between the networks in the identified network pair, using neither the source network address of the packet, the destination network address of the packet, nor the link-level identifier of any service application.