Abstract

This paper describes a pattern-based approach to building packet classifiers. One novelty of the approach is that it can be implemented efficiently in both software and hardware. A performance study shows that the software implementation is about twice as fast as existing mechanisms, and that the hardware implementation is currently able to keep up with OC-12 (622Mbps) network links and is likely to operate at gigabit speeds in the near future. 1 Introduction A packet classifier is a mechanism that inspects incoming network packets, and based on the values found in select header fields, determines how each is to be processed. A classifier can be thought of as assigning a tag (type) to each packet, or alternatively, identifying the flow or path to which the packet belongs. We call this mechanism a packet classifier rather than a packet filter because it more accurately describes the function being performed---it classifies all packets, rather than filtering out select packets. Packet ...

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