Patent ID: 8792490

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: one or more computer processors; a receipt logic to receive a data packet that includes: a partition header as an outer header of a QinQ header of the data packet, where the partition header identifies a first one of a plurality of logical partitions on the apparatus to be used to process the data packet, and wherein each logical partition of the plurality of logical partitions comprises a respective virtual route forwarding (VRF) table; and a network segmentation header as an inner header of the QinQ header of the data packet, where the network segmentation header does not displace the partition header, and where the network segmentation header identifies a first one of a plurality of network segments; a forwarding logic to forward the data packet to the first logical partition of the apparatus, based on a determination that the partition header within the data packet identifies the first logical partition of the apparatus; a control logic to access an entry in the VRF table for the first logical partition, relating to the first network segment, and based on the network segmentation header, to determine routing information for the data packet; and a transmit logic to send the data packet onto a common interface, according to the determined routing information, wherein the common interface is shared by the plurality of logical partitions and the plurality of network segments.