Patent ID: 8705540
Filing Date: 2014-04-22
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A network relay apparatus, comprising: a plurality of distributed processing units configured to be coupled to a network and to receive and send a packet from and to an external device via a network port; an integrated processing unit connected to the plurality of distributed processing units; and a mode selector configured to change over a processing mode of the network relay apparatus between a distributed processing mode and an integrated processing mode, based on at least either one of a load applied to the network relay apparatus and a packet type determined according to header information of the received packet, wherein (i) in the distributed processing mode, each of the distributed processing units performs a destination search with each received packet and transfers the packet to the external device; and (ii) in the integrated processing mode, each of the distributed processing units transfers each received packet to the integrated processing unit without performing a destination search with the received packet, and the integrated processing unit performs the destination search and transfers the packet to the external device via one of the distributed processing units.