Patent ID: 8644151

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a first logic configured to determine an identifier associated with a packet and a flow count index associated with the identifier; a flow counter coupled to the first logic and configured to count a number of flows associated with the flow count index, wherein the flow counter comprises one or more flow count indices associated with one or more identifiers and flow counts corresponding to respective one or more flow count indices; a second logic, coupled to the first logic and the flow counter, wherein the second logic is configured to analyze the packet to determine if the packet is a part of a new flow that has not been counted in the flow counter, and increment the flow counter if the packet is part of a new flow; wherein the second logic increments the flow counter by incrementing a flow count corresponding to the flow count index associated with the identifier; a flow table coupled to the second logic and comprising stored statistics on packets, wherein said packets are sampled at a flow sampling rate determined by a priority is bound to a source identifier of the packet; wherein the flow sampling rate causes a greater number of statistics to be stored for a high-priority source than for a lower priority source.