Differentiated Handling of Data Traffic with Adaptation of Network Address Lookup

A network device, comprising:

• an interface for receiving a message of a lookup procedure for obtaining a network address of a network resource, and
• a processor configured to process the message so as to adapt the lookup procedure to return a network address of a replacement network resource capable of replacing the network resource in communication of data packets and to select the network address of the replacement network resource in accordance with a traffic class of data traffic related to the network resource,
• thereby allowing for differentiated handling of the data packets in said communication with the replacement network resource is accomplished using a packet classification rule operating on the basis of the network address of the replacement network resource.

(canceled)

(canceled)

A non-transitory computer-readable medium which has an executable computer program product stored thereon, the computer program product comprising program code to be processed by a processor of a network device, thereby causing the network device to operate as follows:

• processing a message of the lookup procedure for adapting the lookup procedure to return a network address of a replacement network resource ca able of replacing the network resource in communication of data packets,
• wherein the network address of the replacement network resource is selected in accordance with a traffic class of the data traffic related to the network resource, and
• wherein differentiated handling of the data packets in said communication with the replacement network resource is accomplished using a packet classification rule operating on the basis of the network address of the replacement network resource.