Patent ID: 8199754

Claim:
An apparatus for redirecting network traffic, comprising: a plurality of first ports; a plurality of second ports, wherein each of the plurality of second ports corresponds with a respective one of the plurality of first ports; one or more IPS ports (I-ports) to connect to a network traffic processing device, wherein the plurality of first ports and the plurality of second ports are connected to the one or more I-ports, and wherein packets received through each of the plurality of first ports are to be communicated out of the apparatus through at least one of the one or more I-ports, received back into the apparatus through at least one of the one or more I-ports, and communicated out of the apparatus through the plurality of second ports; and wherein the apparatus is to add a virtual local area network (VLAN) tag to each packet received through the plurality of first ports, wherein the VLAN tag indicates which second port of the plurality of second ports the packet is to be outputted, and wherein the apparatus is to examine the added VLAN tag of each of the packets received back into the one or more I-ports to determine which of the plurality of second ports the packets are to be outputted.