Mapping a port on a packet switch appliance
AssigneeGigamon Inc.
InventorsPatrick Pak Tak Leong, King L. Won, Ted Ho
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A packet switch appliance includes a plurality of ports. One of the plurality of ports is configured to operate as a network port connected to a packet-switching network. To map the network port of the packet switch appliance, a port map is created. The port map includes a first map rule, which has a first criterion and a first action, and at least a second map rule, which has a second criterion and a second action. The port map is assigned to the network port. When an ingress packet is received from the packet-switching network through the network port, the port map is applied to the ingress packet.
Claims45
A packet switch device for providing visibility of traffic in a network, comprising:
- a processing unit;
- a first network port communicatively coupled to the processing unit, wherein the first network port is configured to communicate with the network;
- a plurality of instrument ports communicatively coupled to the processing unit, each of the instrument ports configured to communicate with a respective network monitoring instrument;
- wherein the processing unit is configured to:
- process a packet received at the first network port using a first rule with a first criterion, and
- process the packet received at the first network port using a second rule with a second criterion;
- wherein each of the first criterion and the second criterion specifies a packet value, wherein the packet value specified by the first criterion is for comparison with a value of a portion of the packet, and wherein the processing unit is configured to drop or forward the packet based at least in part on a result from the comparison.
A method performed by a packet switch device for providing visibility of traffic in a network, comprising:
- receiving a packet at a first network port that is communicatively coupled to a processing unit, wherein the first network port is configured to communicate with the network, and wherein the processing unit is communicatively coupled to a plurality of instrument ports that are configured to communicate with respective network monitoring instruments;
- processing the packet received at the first network port using a first rule with a first criterion, and
- processing the packet received at the first network port using a second rule with a second criterion;
- wherein each of the first criterion and the second criterion specifies a packet value, wherein the packet value specified by the first criterion is for comparison with a value of a portion of the packet, and wherein the packet is dropped or forwarded to one or more of the instrument ports based at least in part on a result of the comparison.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.