Patent ID: 8705524

Claim:
A network switch, comprising: at least one ingress port; a plurality of egress ports; switching logic configured to receive at least a first data packet and a second data packet from the ingress port and to forward the second data packet to one of the egress ports, the switching logic configured to detect an exception for the first data packet and to direct the first data packet to an exception queue in response to the detected exception, the switching logic further configured to determine metadata indicative of at least one attribute of the first data packet, wherein the first data packet has a header, a payload field, a pad field, and a first frame check sequence, wherein the header precedes the payload field, wherein the payload field precedes the pad field, and wherein the pad field precedes the frame check sequence, wherein the pad field is between the payload field and the first frame check sequence, and wherein the switching logic is configured to insert the metadata into the first data packet such that the payload field precedes the metadata in the first data packet; and a microprocessor configured to receive the first data packet from the exception queue and to read the metadata, the microprocessor further configured to identify the at least one attribute based on the metadata and to handle the exception based on the identified attribute.