Accelerated network traffic sampling for a non-accelerated line card

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer processor, configure a network device to perform a method of accelerating monitoring of network traffic, the method comprising:

• associating, based on a load balancing policy, a first network chip of a non-accelerated line card of the network device with a first sampling engine of a first accelerated line card of the network device;
• configuring the first network chip with a virtual output queue (VOQ) associated with an internal interface of the first network chip that is operatively connected to a second network chip of the first accelerated line card;
• receiving, at the first network chip, a network traffic data unit;
• selecting, by the first network chip, the network traffic data unit based on a traffic sampling rate;
• adding, by the first network chip, a sampling header to the network traffic data unit to obtain a sampled network traffic data unit;
• and
• sending the sampled network traffic data unit from the first network chip to the second network chip using the VOQ and the internal interface,
• wherein the second network chip identifies the sampled network traffic data unit based on the sampling header, and transmits the sampled network traffic data unit to the first sampling engine.

A system comprising:

• a network device comprising:
• a processor;
• a memory;
• a non-accelerated line card comprising a first network chip;
• and
• a first accelerated line card comprising a second network chip and a first sampling engine,
• wherein the second network chip is operatively connected to the first network chip;
• wherein the network device is configured to:
• associate, based on a load balancing policy, the first network chip the first sampling engine;
• and
• configure the first network chip with a virtual output queue (VOQ) associated with an internal interface of the first network chip that is operatively connected to the second network chip;
• and
• wherein the first network chip is configured to:
• receive a network traffic data unit;
• select the network traffic data unit based on a traffic sampling rate;
• add a sampling header to the network traffic data unit to obtain a sampled network traffic data unit;
• and
• send the sampled network traffic data unit from the first network chip to the second network chip using the VOQ and the internal interface, wherein the second network chip identifies the sampled network traffic data unit and, based on the identification, sends the sampled network traffic data unit to the first sampling engine.