Patent ID: 8255515

Claim:
A network device for use in a networking system, the network device comprising: a packet processor that: receives a control packet at a network port of the network device, and assigns a first CPU code to the control packet from a plurality of CPU codes, the first CPU code indicative of a type of traffic associated with the control packet and the following: a destination for the control packet, the destination corresponds to a CPU to which the control packet is directed so as to enable distributed processing in compliance with protocols at multiple CPUs in the networking system; a quality of service (QoS) functionality including a traffic class and a drop precedence associated with the control packet; and a statistical sampling parameter based on a packet truncation operation associated with the control packet; the CPU being in communication with the packet processor; and a memory in communication with the packet processor, the memory being configured to store a lookup table indexed by the plurality of CPU codes, wherein an entry in the lookup table associated with the first CPU code includes a rate limit that defines a rate at which packets associated with the type of traffic are delivered to the CPU, wherein the packet processor delivers the control packet to the CPU based on the rate limit associated with the type of traffic.