Described herein are various embodiments of a network element comprising a network port to receive a unit of network data and a data plane coupled to the network port. In one embodiment the data plane includes a ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) module to compare a first set of bits in the unit of network data with a second set of bits in a key associated with a TCAM rule. The second set of bits includes a first subset of bits and a second subset of bits and the TCAM module includes first logic to compare one or more bits in the first set of bits against the second set of bits, and second logic to select an action or a result using bits from either the second subset of bits, from the unit of network data, or from meta data associated with the unit of network data. Other embodiments are also described.

In one embodiment a method includes receiving a packet including a destination media access control (MAC) address field having a MAC address of a hypervisor and a destination Internet protocol (IP) address field having an IP address of a virtual machine (VM) coupled to the hypervisor. The method further determines a MAC address of the VM using the IP address of the VM and applies the VM MAC address to the destination MAC address field of the packet to forward the packet to the VM.

A method, apparatus and computer program product for providing Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) and gateway Media Access Controller (MAC) distribution is presented. At least one subnet associated with a Layer 2 Virtual Switching Network (L2VSN) is provided on a network device. A message is propagated to a distributed Datapath. Network devices install the message as a routable MAC address on the L2VSN for the Layer 3 Virtual Switching Network/Virtual Routing and Forwarding (L3VSN/VRF) associated with the message. Edge devices route packets on the L2VSN addressed to the gateway MAC address.

A packet routing apparatus includes a plurality of interface units each includes, a first memory in which a plurality of routing information used in a routing of a packet are stored, a second memory in which the plurality of routing information are stored, the number of the routing information stored in the second memory being smaller than the number of the routing information stored in the first memory, and a retrieval unit configured to detect a packet length of the packet received at any of the plurality of ports, perform the routing based on the plurality of routing information stored in the second memory when the detected packet length is less than a predetermined value, and perform the routing based on the plurality of routing information stored in the first memory when the detected packet length is greater than or equal to the predetermined value.

A technique for operating a processor includes allocating an entry in a prefetch filter queue (PFQ) for a cache line address (CLA) in response to the CLA missing in an upper level instruction cache. In response to the CLA subsequently hitting in the upper level instruction cache, an associated prefetch value for the entry in the PFQ is updated. In response to the entry being aged-out of the PFQ, an entry in a backing array for the CLA and the associated prefetch value is allocated. In response to subsequently determining that prefetching is required for the CLA, the backing array is accessed to determine the associated prefetch value for the CLA. A cache line at the CLA and a number of sequential cache lines specified by the associated prefetch value in the backing array are then prefetched into the upper level instruction cache.

A method for use in a communication network is provided. The method comprises the steps of: (i) providing a plurality of network processing units (NPU's) comprised in the communication network; (ii) establishing a replication of at least one of the NPU's; (iii) virtually arranging the NPU's and the replication(s) in a ring configuration; (iv) associating a unique primary virtual identification and a corresponding unique backup virtual identification with each active and available entity selected from among the plurality of NPU's and replication(s); (v) establishing a list of hash values, each associated with the primary virtual identification or the backup virtual identification of a corresponding active and available entity; (vi) implementing a ring consistent hashing algorithm for carrying out a search resolution for a consistent hashing; and (vii) in a case of a change in an active and available entity having a certain primary virtual identification, using the corresponding backup virtual identification to maintain the ring continuity.

System and method for using multiple global identification subnet prefix values in a network switch environment in a high performance computing environment. A packet is received from a network fabric by a first Host Channel Adapter (HCA). The packet has a header portion including a destination subnet prefix identifying a destination subnet of the network fabric. The network HCA is allowed to receive the first packet from a port of the network HCA by selectively determining a logical state of a flag and, selectively in accordance with a predetermined logical state of the flag, ignoring the destination subnet prefix identifying the destination subnet of the network fabric.

A network switch to support flexible lookup key generation comprises a control CPU configured to run a network switch control stack. The network switch control stacks is configured to manage and control operations of a switching logic circuitry, provide a flexible key having a plurality of possible fields that constitute part of a lookup key to a table, and enable a user to dynamically select at deployment or runtime a subset of the fields in the flexible key to form the lookup key and thus define a lookup key format for the table. The switching logic circuitry provisioned and controlled by the network switch control stack is configured to maintain said table to be searched via the lookup key in a memory cluster and process a received data packet based on search result of the table using the lookup key generated from the dynamically selected fields in the flexible key.

An information processing apparatus includes a first memory, a second memory, and a control circuit. The first memory stores a first table where entries, which indicate forwarding methods for packets, are stored at positions corresponding to hash values calculated from header information of the packets. The second memory stores a second table that is larger than the first table. The control circuit detects, when the first table is updated, a conflict state where there is conflict between storage positions of different entries in the first table. The control circuit moves entries stored in the first table to the second table in response to the detecting of the conflict state. The control circuit detects resolution of the conflict state when the second table is updated. In response to the detecting of the resolution, the control circuit moves the entries stored in the second table to the first table.

A method for routing a request for content from a content provider through an IPv6 network is described, the IPv6 network being an information centric network (ICN) in which content is directly addressed using at least a portion of an IPv6 address. The method includes receiving, at an IPv6 network, a request for content, determining that the request does not comprise an ICN address. The method further includes intercepting the request, and translating the request into an IPv6 address in which at least a portion of the address is directed to or associated with the piece of content. Systems and methods described herein address problems arising from the interaction between IP and ICN networking models.