Systems and methods for prioritizing packets

A method for prioritizing data packets received by a network device, the method comprising:

• storing a plurality of addresses in a table, the plurality of addresses including a first address and a second address;
• providing the first address to a first remote device in response to a request from the first remote device for requesting an address identifying the network device;
• providing the second address to a second remote device in response to a request from the second remote device for requesting an address identifying the network device;
• receiving a data packet at the network device, the data packet having a destination address;
• comparing the destination address of the data packet to the plurality of addresses stored in the table;
• providing the data packet to a processor in response to the destination address of the data packet matching one address of the plurality of addresses stored in the table;
• monitoring a condition of the network device;
• and
• preventing received data packets having the first address as a destination address from being provided to the processor in response to the monitored condition exceeding a threshold.

A network device comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• an Ethernet interface coupled to the at least one processor and configured to receive data packets from at least one network connection coupled to the Ethernet interface, the Ethernet interface having a table for storing media access control (MAC) addresses including at least a first MAC address for identifying the network device and a second MAC address for identifying the network device, the Ethernet interface having a classifier configured to compare destination addresses in the data packets to the MAC addresses in the table for determining whether to queue the data packets for processing by the at least one processor, wherein the Ethernet interface is configured to receive a first request from a first device for requesting a MAC address of the network device and a second request from a second device for requesting a MAC address of the network device,
• wherein the at least one processor is configured to respond to the first request by controlling the Ethernet interface to transmit to the first device a first reply that includes the first MAC address, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to respond to the second request by controlling the Ethernet interface to transmit to the second device a second reply that includes the second MAC address thereby enabling the at least one processor to prioritize data packets from the first device relative to data packets from the second device based on the first and second MAC addresses.

A method for prioritizing data packets received by a network device, the method comprising:

• receiving a plurality of data packets from a network at the network device;
• storing, in memory of the network device, a table having a plurality of addresses, including a first address for identifying the network device and a second address for identifying the network device;
• comparing destination addresses in the plurality of data packets to the plurality of addresses in the table;
• determining based on the comparing whether to forward the plurality of data packets to a queue for queuing data packets to be processed by a processor of the network device;
• receiving at the network device a first request from a first device for requesting an address of the network device;
• receiving at the network device a second request from a second device for requesting an address of the network device;
• transmitting from the network device to the first device a first reply to the first request, the first reply including the first address;
• transmitting from the network device to the second device a second reply to the second request, the second reply including the second address;
• transmitting at least one data packet from the first device to the queue in response to a determination that a destination address in the at least one data packet from the first device matches the first address stored in the table;
• transmitting at least one data packet from the second device to the queue in response to a determination that a destination address in the at least one data packet from the second device matches the second address stored in the table;
• prioritizing traffic from the second device relative to traffic from the first device by disabling the first address in the table;
• and
• dropping at least one data packet from the first device in response to the disabling.