Patent ID: 6678283
Filing Date: 2004-01-13
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
An internetworking device comprising a plurality of network interface cards, each of said plurality of network interface cards being able to send data directly to any of the other network interface cards, wherein when one of said plurality of network interface cards receives a network layer packet that should be forwarded to another one of said plurality of network interface cards, a process running on said one of said plurality of network interface cards determines a destination address of said network layer packet and determines whether said destination address matches a network layer address of the internetworking device, wherein if said destination address does not match a network layer address of the internetworking device, said process further determines, based on said destination address, the network interface card to which said network layer packet should be forwarded, and wherein if said destination address matches a network layer address of the internetworking device, said process examines a destination port field within a transport layer packet encapsulated by said network layer packet to determine a destination port number and determines, based at least in part on said destination port number, the network interface card to which said network layer packet should be forwarded.