Patent ID: 8068487

Claim:
A method performed by a network security device, the method comprising: receiving, by the network security device, a data packet; determining, by the network security device, whether the data packet is a first data packet in a session; switching, by the network security device, the data packet to a management board, of the network security device, when the data packet is a first data packet in a session and to a processing board, of the network security device, when the data packet is not the first data packet in the session; causing, by the network security device, the management board to process the data packet when the data packet is the first data packet in the session; and causing, by the network security device, the processing board to process the data packet when the data packet is not the first data packet in the session, where a quantity of the management board and the processing board of the network security device is configurable by a user.