Patent ID: 7079537

Claim:
A method in an integrated network switch having a switching module, the integrated network switch configured for switching a layer 2 packet, the method comprising: determining whether the layer 2 packet includes prescribed layer 3 packet information; selectively performing layer 3 switching based on the determined presence of the prescribed layer 3 packet information, including determining a switching operation based on at least one of a layer 3 source address and a layer 3 destination address, including: (1) determining a presence of a subnetwork identifier within the prescribed layer 3 packet information, (2) searching a first table, configured for storing switching entries for respective Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, for a corresponding switching entry storing the layer 3 destination address, and (3) selectively searching a second table, configured for storing switching entries for respective prescribed subnetwork identifiers, for a corresponding switching entry storing the subnetwork identifier, the selectively searching being performed based on a determined absence of the corresponding switching entry storing the layer 3 destination address; and selectively performing layer 2 switching based on the determined absence of the prescribed layer 3 packet information.