Abstract:
Computers are caused to provide a hash table wherein each entry is associated with a binary key and indexed by a selected portion of a hash value of the associated key, and points to a data structure location for storing non-selected portions of, or the entire hash value of, the binary key, and action data corresponding to the value of the binary key. Content addressable memory entries store a binary key, or a value unique to it, and an association to a corresponding action. Pointers to the data structure use selected portions of binary key hash values as an index when not selected portions of hash values of other binary keys, and associations are established between CAM entry and associated data structure locations when selected portions of the hash values of the binary keys are the same as selected portions of hash values of one or more other binary keys.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/462,071, filed Aug. 3, 2006, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/144,610, filed May 13, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,116,664 B2, issued Oct. 3, 2006. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a method and structure for preventing collisions between two or more stored hash values of binary keys to action items in a network environment. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In certain networks, specific fields within message headers are used as binary keys to search data structures for specific details regarding actions necessary for appropriate processing of those messages. The length of a binary key is dependent on the size of the field(s) used to create the key. A few example key lengths may include 32 bits for an IP address, 48 bits for an Ethernet MAC address, or 104 bits for a TCP/IP 5-tuple. It is impractical to use these keys in their full form to directly address corresponding entries due to the length of the keys. This can theoretically be done in content addressable memory (CAM), but typically creates practical disadvantages because of the cost of a CAM of such size. Hence, a common approach is to hash the value of the binary key and use a pre-selected first portion of the hashed value to address a specific entry in a hash table. Hashing can be accomplished by creating a new value of the binary key having the same number of bits, which are unique to any given binary key, and then using only a portion of the bits, e.g. the first N bits to select the corresponding hash table entry. This value is then used to address a specific entry in a hash table, sometimes referred to as a direct table DT. Either the entire hashed value or the remaining portion of the hashed value is stored in a data structure, together with the corresponding function-specific data denoted by the binary key. Whenever a binary key is extracted from received messages, its value is hashed and the first portion of the hash value is used to access an entry in the hash table. If a valid hash table entry is found, that location in the hash table points to a data structure containing a complementary portion of a reference hash value that is compared with the equivalent complementary portion of the hash value generated from the message key to confirm the validity of the key and declare the associated action if the key is, in fact, valid. This works well for some numbers; however, in some cases, the first portion of the hashed value of one binary reference key is the same as the first portion of the hashed value of another binary reference key. This occurs because only a portion of the newly created value of the binary key is used to select an entry in the hash table and, hence, this portion of the new value of one binary key may be the same as that of another binary key. This is often referred to as a “collision”. In the past, this has been dealt with by the use of patricia tree structures or the like. But this is cumbersome and relatively slow. Hence, a faster relatively inexpensive technique is needed. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Embodiments of the present invention include a computer readable storage medium encoded with computer executable instructions which, when executed by a first computer, cause the first computer to perform steps that include providing a hash table with a plurality of entries, each entry associated with a binary key and indexed by a selected portion of a hash value of the associated binary key, each entry pointing to a location in a data structure for storing the non-selected portion of, or the entire hash value of, the binary key, and action data corresponding to the value of the binary key. The first computer is also thereby caused to provide a content addressable memory (CAM) having a plurality of entries each configured to store a binary key, or a value unique to a binary key, and an association to a corresponding action associated therewith. The steps thereby caused to be performed by the first computer also include storing in the hash table a pointer to the data structure using a selected portion of a first hash value of a first binary key as an index into the hash table when and only when the selected portion is not a selected portion of the hash value of any other binary key; storing in the CAM the first binary key or a value unique to the first binary key; and establishing an association between the associated CAM entry location and a location of an associated data structure, when and only when the selected portion of the first hash value of the first binary key is the same as the selected portion of the hash value of one or more other binary keys. The steps thereby caused to be performed by the first computer also include presenting a second binary key for insertion into one of the hash table and the CAM, creating a second hash value of the second binary key, searching the hash table using a first portion of the second hash value, detecting that the hash table includes an entry indexed by the first portion of the second hash value for a third binary key, creating an entry in the CAM indexed by the second binary key, creating an entry in the CAM indexed by the third binary key, and deleting the entry in the hash table indexed by the first portion of the second hash value. 
     Embodiments of the present invention also include a computer readable storage medium encoded with computer executable instructions which, when executed by a second computer, cause the second computer to perform steps including storing in a hash table a pointer to a data structure using a selected portion of a first hash value of a first binary key as an index into the hash table when and only when a selected portion of the first hash value is not selected portion of the hash value of any other binary key. The steps thereby caused to be performed by the second computer also include storing in a content addressable memory (CAM) the first binary key or a value unique to the first binary key; establishing an association between the associated CAM entry location and a location of an associated data structure, when and only when the selected portion of the first hash value of the first binary key is the same as the selected portion of the hash value of one or more other binary keys. The steps thereby caused to be performed by the second computer further also include presenting a second binary key for insertion into one of the hash table and the CAM; creating a second hash value of the second binary key; searching the hash table using a first portion of the second hash value; detecting that the hash table includes an entry indexed by the first portion of the second hash value for a third binary key; creating an entry in the CAM indexed by the second binary key; creating an entry in the CAM indexed by the third binary key; and deleting the entry in the hash table indexed by the first portion of the second hash value. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram of the structure of this invention; and 
         FIG. 2  is a flow diagram of one search protocol according to this invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       FIG. 1  is a high level view of the configuration of the present invention. A combination of a content addressable memory (CAM)  10  and a hash table or direct table DT  12  is shown. A data structure  14  is also shown having a cam portion and hash table portion. Hardware  16  is provided which will perform a hashing function of a binary key. An alternate embodiment of the invention includes software for implementing these hash functions. In either case, software is typically used to implement a reverse hashing required by Insert procedures to construct a binary key from the selected portions of the hashed value. A control function (either hardware or software)  18  is provided to control the operation of the CAM  10  and hashing function  16  responsive to a compare function  20 . The underlying premise of the invention is that CAMS  10  are relatively expensive but do function well to provide a positive indication of a match of a binary bit number being delivered thereto. On the other hand, direct tables or hash tables DT  12  are relatively inexpensive and can provide maximum storage of entries corresponding to selected segments of hashed values at a minimum cost. However, when a binary number is hashed and a selected portion of the hashed value is used to identify the entire hashed value and, hence, the binary key value, there is a possibility that two different binary keys or binary numbers will have the same value of the selected portion of the hashed value. Briefly, hashing, as used herein, refers to generating a number of bits in a selected manner from the bits of a given binary number, such as a binary key, and then using a certain predetermined portion of the number of those bits to identify the binary key value, e.g., a typical binary key may have 32, 48, 104 bits or more, and the first N bits are used to select an entry from the hash table, where N may be limited in practical implementations to 20 or less. A technique for providing a hash function and reverse hash function is shown in commonly owned application Ser. No. 09/210,222, filed Dec. 10, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,785,278, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     In hashing, it should be understood that for any given binary key, X, there is a hash function for generating a hashed key, H(X), having the same number of bits, x, as in the original binary key, X. H(X) may be partitioned into two segments, h(X) and h′(X), with h(X) having a fixed number of bits N in a specific place so that the number of bits in h(X) is greater than zero (0) and less than the total number of bits in the key X. The segment h′(X) is the complementary function of h(X), so that h′(X) has x−N bits. Thus, h(X) concatenated with h′(X) reconstructs the hashed key H(X). Moreover, knowing both the hash function h(X) and the complement h′(X) allows the value X of the binary key to be recalculated precisely. 
     Thus, it is possible to have two selected first portion values which are identical but which refer to different binary keys. Such a condition is known as a collision, and collisions need to be avoided so that, when a key is presented for search, there will be an unambiguous pointing to the proper action represented by a given key that is unique to the given key. However, the predetermined portion of hashed value could be the same for two or more binary keys. This results in a collision that must be avoided in order to prevent ambiguity in an action associated with the binary key. 
     In many network systems, different binary keys are typically contained in the header of a message that is being distributed within the system, and are used to guide actions taken on these messages by networking devices. Each binary key corresponds to attributes or details of actions to be taken in processing a message containing the key. For example, an IP destination address may be used as a key to access data structures identifying the next hop address, target port to be used for transmitting the data, transmit vs. discard indication, etc. When this particular key is presented within the system for search and execution, the key will be used to locate details of actions to be taken, and the system will take those actions based upon the particular action data associated with the binary key. Thus, whenever a particular key is presented, this must be recognized as a unique binary key and a pointer declares the action indicated by the key. 
     According to the present invention, a CAM  10  is used in conjunction with a hash table  12 , a data structure  14 , and hardware  16  to perform a hashing and unhashing function to effectively utilize the capability of the CAM while minimizing its size and, thus, its cost and using the hashed value in a hash table when the CAM is not needed. 
     According to the present invention, a hash function accepts a binary key, X, consisting of M bits, and computes a corresponding hashed key, H(X), that also consists of M bits. A selected first portion, h(X), of hashed key, H(X), is used to map to a corresponding entry in a hash table. The selected first portion, h(X), consists of N bits (where N&lt;M). Likewise, the hash table uses an N=bit address to select one of 2 N  entries. The output of a search is uniquely determined by the full M bits of X or H(X). However, the first N bits (i.e. h(X)) might not correlate to a single unique entry. A complementary function, h′(X), consisting of M−N bits, is, therefore, defined as the remainder from H(X), after h(X) has been segmented from it. This complementary function is used to validate the uniqueness of an entry in the hash table via comparison with a stored equivalent, h′(x). The invention operates as follows. If the selected portion h(X) of the hashed value of two or more binary keys is the same value, then each of these binary keys, or a value unique to each key, is stored in the CAM  10 , with the location of each CAM entry associated with the address of a corresponding data structure containing appropriate data to guide message processing actions. The location of the data structure can be an offset value based on the location of the matching CAM entry, or the data structure itself could be contained within the CAM  10 , or any other technique could be used to recognize and initiate action. (The technique for insertion and deletion of values into the CAM will be described presently.) If, however, the selected first portion h(X) of the hash value of any binary key is unique and the binary key is not stored in the CAM  10 , then the selected portion of the hash value h(X) is used to access a specific entry in the hash or direct table DT  12  at a particular location, with a pointer from that location to the data structure having a corresponding action of the binary key having that hashed value. The remainder h′(X), or the hash value H(X), is also included in the data structure. If the remainder or all of the hash value stored in the data structure matches the hashed key used to locate the data structure, then the action is declared. Thus, in operation, when a binary key is presented, a comparison is first made in the CAM  10  to see if the binary key is stored. It will be remembered that the only binary key numbers stored in the CAM in their entirety (i.e., in their unhashed value) are those binary keys which have selected first portions of their hash values that are identical to the selected first portion of some other binary key. Thus, there are a minimum number of binary keys that need to be stored in the CAM  10 . If the value corresponding to the binary key is found in the CAM  10 , then a pointer from that entry points to the data structure where action to be taken is declared, or the location stores the required action. If, however, the binary key is not found in the CAM  10 , then the binary key is hashed and the selected portion h(X) of the hash value is used to access the hash table or direct table DT  12 . If a valid entry is found, that means that there are no other identical selected first portions of the hash values, and so a pointer from that value in the hash table or direct table DT  12  points to the data structure containing the remainder of the hash value and the action of the binary key. 
     In a preferred embodiment, once a binary key is placed into the CAM (due to a collision in the hash table), it will remain in the CAM even if the other colliding entries are eventually deleted via administrative table maintenance. A table maintenance task can manage these situations by periodically hashing each binary key in the CAM, and searching for entries that are unique in the selected first portion h(x). Any CAM entries identified to have a unique selected first portion h(X) can then be added to the hash table and removed from the CAM. Those skilled in the art will recognize that more complex implementations are possible that would maintain a separate data structure or an additional segment of the base data structure to identify which CAM entries have matching selected first portions h(x). Such additional data structures can enable the delete process to test an entry being deleted from the CAM to determine if the deletion would result in a remaining CAM entry that no longer matched other entries in the selected first portion h(x), thus enabling that remaining CAM entry to be moved from the CAM into the hash table. 
     Thus, the search policy can be characterized as follows where a key X is presented for search: 
     The following designations are used in the description of the Search policy, Insertion policy, and Deletion policy: 
     X, Y . . . =Binary Keys consisting of M bits 
     H(X), H(Y)=Hash Value of Key consisting of M bits 
     h(X), h(Y)=Selected Portion of Hash Value consisting of N bits 
     h′(X), h′(Y)=Remainder of Hash Value consisting of (M−N) bits 
     h(x), h(y)=Selected Portion of comparison Hash Value optionally stored in data structure consisting of N bits 
     h′(x), h′(y)=Remainder or Complement of comparison Hash Value stored in data structure consisting of (M−N) bits 
     A, B . . . =Action denoted by X, Y 
     Search Policy ( FIG. 2 )
         1. Seek X in the CAM  10     2. If X is found, then declare corresponding action A, and end.   3. Else generate h(X) and go to corresponding hash table  12  entry.   4. If h(X) corresponds to an invalid or empty entry, declare default action DA, and end.   5. If hash table entry is valid (a hit), compare remainder h′(X) derived from search key X with h′(x) stored in data structure.   7. If match, then declare (unambiguous and final) corresponding action A from data structure, and end.   8. Else, if no match of h′(X), then declare default action, and end.       

     In another embodiment, both the hash table  12  and CAM  10  are searched simultaneously. In yet another embodiment, the hash table  12  is searched first rather than the CAM  10 . 
     For insertion of an entry corresponding to a binary key number in the CAM  10  or in the hash table or direct table DT  12 , the following steps are performed. A binary key X and action A are presented for insertion. First, the M-bit binary key X is sought in the CAM  10 , and if X is found, then the system will write A over the existing action and end the procedure. If X is not found, then X is hashed and the entry in hash table or direct table DT  12  is accessed using an N bit address corresponding to h(X) to see if a valid entry is found there. If the hash table entry is invalid, then the h(X) is used to store a pointer to a data structure containing action A corresponding to X and h′(x), and the program is ended. If an entry exists at index h(X), and contains a pointer from this entry to an obsolete version of action A corresponding to X (i.e. h′(X)=h′(x)), then action data A is updated in the corresponding data structure. However, if an entry exists at index h(X) and contains a pointer from this entry to an action B corresponding to Y (i.e. h(X)=h(y) but h′(X) h′(y)), then the binary key X is entered into the CAM  10 , with the entry index corresponding to the location of a new data structure containing action A. Following this, binary key Y is recreated from the hash h(y), or equivalently h(X), and the complement h′(y) is stored in the data structure pointed to by the hash table entry indexed by h(X), and then binary key Y is entered into the CAM  10  with the entry index corresponding to the location of a new data structure containing action B. The entry corresponding to h(Y) is deleted in the hash table  12  (i.e. marked invalid), the original data structure containing action B is deleted (since this data is moved to a location corresponding to the CAM entry index for Y), and the program is ended. 
     An alternate implementation includes the step of copying the pointer from the hash table entry to a small data portion of the new CAM entry. In this alternative, the data structure does not have to be moved, since the new pointer continues to point to the same data structure location. The Insertion Policy can be characterized as follows where a key X and action A are presented for insertion. 
     Insertion Policy
         1. Seek X in the CAM  10 .   2. If X is found, then write A over the existing action in the corresponding data structure, and end.   3. Else compute h(X) from X, and go to hash table  12  entry indexed by h(X).   4. If DT entry is unoccupied, then create a pointer from that entry to a data structure containing index h′(x) set to a value of h′(X) and action A, and end.   5. Else (the entry at index h(X) has some existing entry stored with a pointer to a data structure) compare h′(X) with h′(y) stored in the data structure.   6. If h′(X)=h′(y), update action data A in data structure pointed to by hash table entry.   7. Else (the entry at index h(X) has some existing pointer stored to a data structure containing an action B corresponding to H(y)) enter key X in the CAM ( 10 ). Enter action A in data structure location corresponding to CAM entry index.   8. Recreate Y from H(Y)=h(Y)∥h′(Y) where ∥ denotes concatenation.   9. Enter key Y in the CAM. Enter action B in data structure location corresponding to CAM entry index.   10. Delete (i.e. mark invalid) entry at offset h (Y) from the hash table. Delete original data structure holding action B.   11. End.       

     For deletion, a key X is presented for deletion and the key X is sought in the CAM  10 . If X is found, then delete X and corresponding data structure containing action A and mark for overwriting, and the program is done. Otherwise, if X is not found in the CAM  10 , then the pre-selected N-bit portion h(X) of the hash value is used to index into the hash table (DT)  12 . If the hash table slot at the h(X) index is occupied, then delete the entry and the corresponding data structure containing action A, mark the hash table entry as invalid, and end. If the entry indexed by h(X) is invalid, or if it points to a data structure containing h′(y), such that the compare at the end of the search does not match, then log a message indicating that the entry targeted for deletion was not found, and end the program. This can be written as follows when a key X is presented for deletion. 
     Deletion Policy
         1. Seek X in the CAM  10 .   2. If X is found, then delete X and corresponding data structure containing action A (mark the entry as invalid) and end.   3. Else access entry indexed by h(X) in the hash table  12 .   4. If the hash table  12  entry indexed by h(X) is valid, then compare h′(X) with the value of h′(x) from the corresponding data structure.   5. If the comparison fails, the entry to be deleted is not in the table. Log “X not found for deletion” and end.   6. If the comparison matches, delete the hash table entry indexed by h(X) and delete the corresponding data structure containing action A, and end.   7. Else (invalid entry accessed from hash table) log “X not found for deletion” and end.       

     The foregoing description of various aspects of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and obviously, many modifications and variations are possible. Such modifications and variations that may be apparent to a person skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the invention as defined by the accompanying claims.