Maintenance of data message classification cache on smart NIC

A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing a program for execution by at least one processing unit of a smart network interface controller (NIC) of a computer that executes a software forwarding element (SFE), the program for performing data message processing, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

• storing (i) a set of cache entries that the smart NIC uses to process a set of received data messages without providing the data messages to the SFE and (ii) rule updates used by the smart NIC to validate the cache entries;
• after a period of time, determining that the rule updates are incorporated into a data message processing structure of the SFE;
• and
• upon incorporating the rule updates, deleting from the smart NIC (i) the rule updates and (ii) at least a subset of the cache entries.