Smuggling and recovery of non-packet information
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorKaren Kimball
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
One embodiment disclosed relates to a networking apparatus. The networking apparatus includes a plurality of blade subsystems and a master system communicatively coupled to the blade subsystems. A particular blade subsystem is configured to provide an additional feature in relation to processing network packets. The remaining blade subsystems are configured to send non-packet information to the one blade subsystem by replacing original information in a packet with the non-packet information. The particular blade subsystem is further configured to retrieve the non-packet information from the packet. Other embodiments are also disclosed.
Claims21
A networking apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of blade subsystems;
- and
- a master system communicatively coupled to the blade subsystems,
- wherein a particular blade subsystem is configured to provide an additional feature in relation to processing network packets,
- wherein remaining blade subsystems are configured to send non-packet information to the one blade subsystem by replacing original information in a packet with the non-packet information, and
- wherein the particular blade subsystem is further configured to retrieve the non-packet information from the packet.
A method of providing an additional feature to an existing networking apparatus having a master system coupled to multiple blade subsystems, the method comprising:
- replacing a blade subsystem with a feature blade subsystem configured to provide the additional feature in relation to processing network packets;
- keeping remaining blade subsystems;
- and
- configuring the remaining blade subsystems to embed non-packet information in packets forwarded to the feature blade subsystem.
A method of providing additional processing of packets in a networking apparatus having a master system coupled to multiple blade subsystems, the method comprising:
- determining whether a packet received at a blade subsystem is to receive the additional processing;
- if the packet is to receive the additional processing, then modifying the packet by embedding non-packet information therein and forwarding the modified packet to a particular blade subsystem for the additional processing.
A network switch configured to provide additional processing of packets, the network switch comprising:
- a backplane;
- a master CPU coupled to the backplane by way of a fabric chip;
- multiple network port blades, each comprising a local CPU and being coupled to the backplane by way of a fabric chip;
- wherein the additional processing of packets received on any of the network port blades is provided by a particular network port blade, and
- wherein non-particular network port blades are configured to determine whether a packet received is to receive the additional processing by the particular network port blade.
A method of indirect communication of non-packet data from a first blade subsystem to a second blade subsystem in an apparatus having a master system interconnected with multiple blade subsystems, the method comprising:
- the first blade subsystem replacing original data in a packet with the non-packet data;
- the first blade subsystem forwarding the packet to the second subsystem;
- and
- the second blade subsystem receiving the packet and retrieving the non-packet data from the packet,
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.