Techniques to manage a flow cache

A method comprising:

• invalidating entries in a table in part by increasing a time incrementing variable by a large increment;
• identifying an entry in the table;
• setting a current time variable for the entry to be a sum of a current system time and the time incrementing variable;
• and
• determining whether the entry is valid in part based on the current time variable exceeding an expiration time of the entry.

A computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon which when executed by a machine cause the machine to:

• invalidate entries in a flow cache in part by increasing a time incrementing variable by a large increment;
• determine a hash index based on a portion of a packet;
• determine an entry from the flow cache based on the hash index;
• and
• set a current time variable for the entry to be a sum of a current system time and the time incrementing variable, and
• determine whether the entry is valid in part based on the current time variable exceeding an expiration time of the entry.

A system comprising:

• a system fabric;
• a line card comprising:
• a packet processor;
• logic to store entries in a flow cache,
• logic to invalidate entries in the flow cache in part by increasing a time incrementing variable by a large increment,
• logic to retrieve an entry from the flow cache in part in response to receipt of a packet,
• logic to set a current time variable for the entry to be a sum of a current system time and the time incrementing variable, and
• logic to determine whether the entry is valid in part based on the current time variable exceeding the expiration time of the entry.