Patent ID: 8848715
Filing Date: 2014-09-30
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of utilizing hardware forwarding and software forwarding of network traffic in a forwarding system, comprising: receiving a plurality of packets at one of a plurality of ports of a forwarding system having (i) a software forwarding engine, the software forwarding engine being implemented using a processor executing machine readable instructions, and (ii) a hardware forwarding engine, wherein the forwarding system is configured to process a given packet using only one of the software forwarding engine or the hardware forwarding engine; classifying the given packet based on a priority of a flow to which the given packet belongs; selecting, at a selection engine of the forwarding system, one of the software forwarding engine or the hardware forwarding engine to determine an egress port via which the given packet is to be transmitted from the forwarding system, the selection engine being in communicative connection with the software forwarding engine and with the hardware forwarding engine, the selecting based on: processing and forwarding, by the forwarding system, the given packet using only the selected one of the software forwarding engine or the hardware forwarding engine and without using the unselected one of the software forwarding engine and the hardware forwarding engine.