Patent Document ID: 9699211
Application ID: 14815261
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method comprising: receiving, by a switch, inbound/outbound packets; remembering, by the switch, ports on which the inbound/outbound packets were received to facilitate forwarding of the inbound/outbound packets on corresponding pair ports after the inbound/outbound packets are processed by a plurality of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack mitigation components; distributing, by the switch, the inbound/outbound packets among the plurality of DDoS attack mitigation components; calculating, by each of the plurality of DDoS attack mitigation components, a plurality of granular rates for each of a plurality of Open System Interconnection (OSI) model network layers, including a plurality of layer 2, layer 3, layer 4 and layer 7 parameters, based on individual protocols, individual parameters or commands of the individual protocols of the inbound/outbound packets; sending, by each of the plurality of DDoS attack mitigation components, the plurality of granular rates to a controlling host; generating, by the controlling host, a plurality of granular rate thresholds for each of the plurality of layer 2, layer 3, layer 4 and layer 7 parameters by aggregating corresponding granular rates of the plurality of granular rates; sending, by the controlling host, the plurality of granular rate thresholds to the plurality of DDoS attack mitigation components; responsive to receipt of the plurality of granular rate thresholds, performing, by the plurality of DDoS attack mitigation components, DDoS attack mitigation by enforcing the plurality of granular rate thresholds; and forwarding or dropping, by the plurality of DDoS attack mitigation components, the inbound/outbound packets based on results of the DDoS attack mitigation, whereby the inbound/outbound packets are rate limited granularly to the plurality of granular rate thresholds for each of the plurality of layer 2, layer 3, layer 4 and layer 7 parameters.