Patent ID: 8605732

Claim:
A method in a network device for presenting different virtual routers to different end users within a common Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN), wherein the method comprises: receiving an incoming packet having a VLAN field identifying the common VLAN and at least one additional packet field; forming a key from the VLAN field and the at least one additional packet field; mapping the key to a virtual router identifier (VRID), wherein the VRID specifies one virtual router configuration among a plurality of possible virtual router configurations; configuring the networking device to present the one virtual router configuration specified by the VRID by selecting a routing table that characterizes the virtual router configuration specified by the VRID for use in routing the incoming packet; and routing the incoming packet using the selected routing table that characterizes the virtual router configuration specified by the VRID, wherein the number of possible virtual routers presented to the different end users is increased by mapping multiple different key values into the same VRID through appropriate settings of index values for the networking device.