Patent ID: 7711001

Claim:
A network switch comprising: a CPU; a memory system having circuitry operable to attach to the CPU; a switch fabric system having circuitry operable to attach to the CPU; a port controller having circuitry operable to attach to the switch fabric system; a software application operable to execute on the CPU; a Forwarding Database Distribution Library (FDDL) system operable to execute on the CPU; a switch device driver operable to execute on the CPU; wherein the software application is operable to communicate with the FDDL system, the FDDL system is operable to communicate with the switch device driver, and the switch device driver is operable to communicate with the switch fabric; wherein the FDDL system defines an FDDL API for communication with the software application, and the FDDL system defines a Switch Services API for communication with the switch device driver.