Patent ID: 9154415
Filing Date: 2015-10-06
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: receiving a packet at an ingress port of a network device, generating with a first hardware element a forwarding result that identifies an egress port for the packet based on information of a header of the packet; generating with a second hardware element that operates independently of and in parallel with the first hardware element a network address translation (NAT) result based on information of a header of the packet, the NAT result identifying one or more NAT rules for possible application to the packet, and wherein generating the NAT result with the second hardware element begins once information of the header of the packet relevant to the NAT result is received; wherein the generating of the forwarding result is initiated prior to the generating of the NAT result; generating, with a third hardware element, a routing decision result based on the forwarding result and the NAT result; and generating address information for the packet based on the NAT result.