Patent ID: 8112547

Claim:
A method to map packets comprising: providing a table for mapping packet values for packets received at a network device; receiving a packet at the network device; identifying an arrival type of the packet from a list of arrival types comprising client to server, server to client, firewall to client, and firewall to server; creating a key for the packet, the key including a set of values followed by a set of bits encoding the arrival type of the packet, wherein in the set of values comprises a source address, a source port, a destination address, and a destination port for the packet; providing the set of values from the key to a hash function to generate an index value; searching a tree structure associated with the table for a leaf in the tree matching the index value, wherein the leaf includes a set of actions common to each arrival type in the list; and using the set of bits to identify actions particular to the arrival type of the packet.