Packet forwarding between packet forwarding elements in a network device

A method of operating a network device having a plurality of packet forwarding elements each including a hardware component, the method comprising:

• receiving, with the hardware component of one of the plurality of packet forwarding elements, a data packet from a network;
• and
• determining, with the hardware component, whether the received data packet is one of a predetermined class of data packets that requires expedited forwarding to each packet forwarding element of the plurality of packet forwarding elements based on data in the received data packet and, if so:
• generating, with the hardware component, expedited processing instructions corresponding to the received data packet based on data in the received data packet, the expedited processing instructions comprising instructions which enable the hardware component to forward the received data packet directly to the hardware component of each packet forwarding element of the plurality of packet forwarding elements with involvement of not more than one central processing unit;
• and
• forwarding the received data packet together with the corresponding expedited processing instructions as a modified data packet directly to the hardware component of each packet forwarding element of the plurality of packet forwarding elements via a switch fabric for processing of the received data packet by each packet forwarding element using the expedited forwarding instructions.

A network switch comprising:

• a plurality of packet forwarding elements for receiving and forwarding data packets from and to other network devices via a plurality of ports when connected to a network, each packet forwarding element having a hardware component including:
• a forwarding engine configured to generate a forwarding data structure for a received data packet and to flag the received data packet as belonging to a predetermined group of data packets that requires expedited forwarding to each packet forwarding element of the plurality of packet forwarding elements based on selected data from the data packet and data stored in one or more programmable tables;
• an advanced processing engine configured to determine, if the data packet is flagged, whether the flagged data packet belongs to a predetermined class of data packets that requires expedited forwarding to each packet forwarding element of the plurality of packet forwarding elements and, if so, to generate a modified forwarding data structure to serve as expedited processing instructions based on selected data from the received data packet and forwarding data structure and data stored in one or more programmable tables, the modified forwarding data structure serving as expedited processing instructions comprising instructions which enable the hardware component to forward the received data packet directly to the hardware component of each packet forwarding element of the plurality of packet forwarding elements with involvement of not more than one central processing unit;
• and
• a packet modifier configured to combine and send the received data packet and modified forwarding data structure as a modified data packet directly to the hardware component of each packet forwarding element of the plurality of packet forwarding elements via a switch fabric for processing using the modified forwarding data structure.