Patent ID: 8976791
Filing Date: 2015-03-10
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising: receiving, at a network device, a packet having a header that includes processing, in a first pass through a packet processing pipeline of the network device, the packet to make a first forwarding decision to forward the packet to a destination in the first network based on the destination information contained in the first portion of the header without relying on the destination information in the second portion of the header; replicating the packet, wherein the replicated packet also includes the first portion of the header and the second portion of the header; returning the packet, or the replicated packet, for processing in a second pass through the packet processing pipeline; and processing, in the second pass through the packet processing pipeline, the packet, or the replicated packet, to make a second forwarding decision to forward at least a portion of (i) the packet or (ii) the replicated packet to a destination in the second network based on the destination information contained in the second portion of the header without relying on the destination information contained in the first portion of the header.