Network Switch Packet Duplication for Overlapping Rule Processing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Network switch apparatuses face challenges in handling overlapping rules, where a packet matches multiple criteria, leading to only one action being executed, potentially causing traffic to be sent to the wrong instrument, as existing systems prioritize actions based on rule order or priority, resulting in incomplete data delivery to intended monitoring instruments.
Innovation Solution
A network switch apparatus with a packet duplication module that creates multiple identical packets, each tagged with different identifiers, allowing the processing unit to determine and act upon multiple matching rules by comparing these tagged packets against a set of criteria, ensuring packets are forwarded to the appropriate instrument ports based on multiple satisfied criteria.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a packet matches multiple criteria in existing network switch apparatuses, then only one action is executed based on rule priority, but traffic may be sent to the wrong instrument and incomplete data delivery occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the packet processing by creating multiple copies of the packet, each tagged with different identifiers corresponding to different rules. This allows each packet copy to be evaluated against specific rules independently, enabling multiple actions to be executed simultaneously rather than selecting only one action based on priority.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates multiple copies of the original packet, tagging each copy with different identifiers that correspond to different matching rules. This copying mechanism enables the system to evaluate the same packet against multiple rules simultaneously and execute multiple actions, resolving the contradiction between reliability and adaptability.
2Reliability
If multiple packet copies with different tags are created and processed, then complete data delivery to multiple instruments is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The processing unit is designed with multi-functionality to handle tagged packets universally. It can process packets with different tags through the same evaluation and execution mechanisms, allowing the system to achieve complete data delivery to multiple instruments without requiring separate processing paths for each rule, thus managing complexity while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces tags as intermediary elements that carry rule identification information. These tags act as mediators between the packet copying mechanism and the processing unit, enabling the system to manage multiple packet copies efficiently through a standardized interface, thereby reducing the complexity increase that would otherwise result from handling multiple packets.
3Adaptability or versatility
If packets are tagged with different identifiers for multiple rule evaluation, then multiple actions can be executed, but processing time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by tagging packet copies with rule identifiers before processing. This pre-tagging allows the processing unit to quickly identify and execute relevant actions without performing complex rule matching during the processing phase, thereby reducing the time penalty that would otherwise result from evaluating multiple rules.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter representation by introducing tags as additional packet attributes that encode rule identification information. This parameter transformation enables the processing unit to efficiently handle multi-rule evaluation by simply reading the tag values rather than performing full rule matching, thus maintaining adaptability while minimizing processing time increase.
Data Source
AI summary
A network switch apparatus, includes: a network port configured to receive a packet; instrument ports configured to communicate with respective network monitoring instruments; a packet duplication module configured to copy the packet to provide multiple packets that are identical to each other: a tagging module configured to tag the multiple packets with different respective identifiers to obtain tagged packets; and a processing unit coupled to the instrument ports; wherein the processing unit is configured to determine whether a first one of the tagged packets satisfies a first criterion, whether a second one of the tagged packets satisfies a second criterion, process the first one of the tagged packets in a first manner if the first one of the tagged packets satisfies the first criterion, and process the second one of the tagged packets in a second manner if the second one of the tagged packets satisfies the second criterion.