Patent ID: 8599721

Claim:
A method comprising: generating, by a device, information identifying a composite next hop that includes information identifying a plurality of next hops, the plurality of next hops identifying a plurality of actions to be performed on one or more data units; receiving, by the device, a data unit; identifying, by the device and based on the data unit, the information identifying the composite next hop; performing, by the device and based on the information identifying the composite next hop, a function associated with the composite next hop, performing the function including performing, on the data unit and by the device, different actions of the plurality of actions identified by the plurality of next hops, performing the different actions on the data unit including at least two of: replacing a header of the data unit, performing a network address translation on the data unit, or replicating the data unit; and forwarding, by the device, the data unit towards one or more network destinations after performing the function.