Security association table lookup architecture and method of operation

A network interface system comprising:

• a parsing component that obtains security data from received frames;
• a network interface security association memory that stores “m” security associations therein, wherein the “m” security associations comprise copies of a subset of “n” security associations stored in a host memory that is external to the network interface system, wherein “m”<“n”, and “m≧2”;
• and
• a security association lookup component that first accesses the network interface security association memory for a desired security association and obtains said security association therefrom if present, and if not present obtains the receive frames security associations from the host memory that is external to the network interface system.

A method of transmitting frames comprising:

• selecting a security association for encrypting a frame according to a destination IP address, a protocol type, and a security parameter index;
• obtaining the selected security association from a network interface security association memory if present;
• obtaining the selected security association from an external memory component on failure to obtain the selected security association from the network interface security association memory when the selected security association is not present in the network interface security association memory;
• and
• encrypting the frame using a security system according to the selected security association.