Patent ID: 7224668

Claim:
An internetworking device comprising: a. a plurality of physical network interface ports, each for providing a physical connection point to a network for the internetworking device, the ports being configurable by control plane processes; b. port services, for operating on packets entering and exiting the physical network interface ports, the port services providing an ability to control and monitor packet flows, as defined by control plane configurations; c. a control plane, comprising a plurality of internetworking control plane processes, the control plane processes for providing high-level control and configuration of the ports and the port services; d. wherein: i. a control plane port entity provides access to the collection of control plane processes, so that a set of control plane port services can be applied thereto; and ii. the control plane port services operate on packets received from specific, predetermined physical ports and destined to the collection of control plane processes in a way that is independent of the physical port interfaces and services applied thereto.