Abstract: A method for providing multiple media access control (MAC) addresses in a device of a master/slave system may include providing a first MAC address in a MAC address storage of the device. The method may also include providing a second MAC address in a multicast table entry of a multicast hash filter of the device.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for rapidly resuming, at times of failures, network traffic in a connection-oriented network by using an alternative route pre-computed and stored locally in nodes along an initial route without requiring signaling of upstream nodes or a master server.

Abstract: A method and device for string matching HTTP headers. The method typically includes identifying a predefined string, identifying an unknown string to compare with the predefined string, performing a bitwise exclusive OR operation on an ASCII binary representation of at least one segment of the unknown string and an ASCII binary representation of at least one segment of the predefined string, and identifying a case-insensitive string match based on the exclusive OR operation. The method may further include performing a bitwise operation with a predefined flag to determine the case-insensitive segment match.

Abstract: A system measures traffic in a device. The system tracks an amount of data and the data units and predicts the amount of padding associated with the data units. The system determines the amount of traffic in the device based on the predicted padding, the amount of data, and the number of data units.

Abstract: A network device is described that load-balances network traffic among a set of network servers based on electrical power consumption of the network servers. The network device may measure electrical power consumption in a variety of ways, and may generate and maintain a power consumption profile for each of the network server. The power consumption profile may describe the respective server power consumption in increasing granularity. For instance, each power consumption profile may specify electrical power consumption according to watts consumed by a server per average transaction, watts consumed per transaction for a specific type of software application, watts consumed per transaction for a software application for individual network resources, and so on. Furthermore, the profiles may be maintained for individual servers or aggregated for groups or sequences of servers.

Abstract: A method for processing high priority packets and low priority packets in a network device includes performing arbitration on high priority packets until no high priority packets remain. Arbitration then is enabled on low priority packets. A packet size associated with the selected low priority packet is compared with a programmable threshold. Low priority packets are excluded from subsequent arbitration for a programmable duration when the packet size exceeds the programmable threshold.

Abstract: A network includes a media server and a service activation device. The media server may receive a request for content from a subscriber device and transmit a message. The message may identify the subscriber device and include information relating to the content. The service activation device may receive the message from the media server, identify, in response to receiving the message, bandwidth and quality of service requirements for the content, determine whether resources needed to provide the identified bandwidth and quality of service requirements exist, reserve the resources when the resources needed to provide the identified bandwidth and quality of service requirements exist, and transmit a second message to the media server in response to reserving the resources. The second message may cause the media server to provide the content to the subscriber device.

Abstract: A pipeline scheduler provides a minimum bandwidth guarantee by transporting cells from an input port to an output port in a two-phased approach. Cells that conform to a minimum cell rate (MCR) are selected from queues at the input port and arranged into supercells for transport to the output port, followed by nonconforming cells, to guarantee fairness by using scheduling modules to build the supercells first for conforming cells, and then for nonconforming cells. Reservation vectors are used to permit the same time slot of the next frame to be reserved by a first queue, and the same time slot of the following time frame to be held for reservation by a second queue, to ensure equal time slot access by the first and second queues over successive time frames.

Abstract: A router maintains routing information including (i) route data representing destinations within a computer network, (ii) next hop data representing interfaces to neighboring network devices, and (iii) indirect next hop data that maps a subset of the routes represented by the route data to a common one of the next hop data elements. In this manner, routing information is structured such that routes having the same next hop use indirect next hop data structures to reference common next hop data. In particular, in response to a change in network topology, the router need not change all of the affected routes, but only the common next hop data referenced by the intermediate data structures. This provides for increased efficiency in updating routing information after a change in network topology, such as link failure.

Abstract: In general, techniques are described of enabling a client-based web browser application to browse a directory structure provided by a server on a private network via a secure gateway. In particular, an intermediate gateway device is positioned on a network path between the client device and a server device. The gateway device communicates with the client device via a secure network connection (e.g., a Secure Sockets Layer connection). When the gateway device receives a resource identifier that identifies a directory structure from either the client device or the server device, the gateway device alters the resource identifier. In particular, the gateway device alters the resource identifier in such a way that when the client device transmits a request to view the directory structure identified by the resource identifier, the client device transmits a request to view the directory structure in a networking protocol that the gateway device permits to pass through the gateway device.

Abstract: A network device includes an interface (105), a TCP/IP protocol fast processing path (115), and a TCP/IP protocol slow processing path (110). The interface (105) receives a packet and parses the packets to determine a characteristic of the packet. The TCP/IP protocol fast processing path (115) processes the packet if the characteristic of the packet includes a first characteristic. The TCP/IP protocol slow processing path (110) processes the packet if the characteristic of the packet includes a second characteristic.

Abstract: There is provided a line redundant method for implementation of line switching in a switching matrix, including the bridge step of outputting a data signal to a plurality of redundant lines in the switching matrix, and the selector step of selecting only a data signal, of a plurality of data signals input from another switching matrix other than the switching matrix through the plurality of redundant lines, which is input through a redundant line required in the switching matrix, and not selecting the data signals input to the switching matrix through the lines other than the required redundant line. A line redundant system for implementing this method is also provided.

Abstract: The invention is directed toward techniques for Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) upstream label assignment for the Label Distribution Protocol (LDP). The techniques include extensions to the LDP that enable distribution of upstream assigned labels from an upstream router to two or more downstream routers of a tunnel established over a network. The tunnel may comprise a LDP Point to Multi-Point (P2MP) Label Switched Path (LSP), an Internet Protocol (IP) multicast tunnel, or a Resource Reservation Protocol with Traffic Engineering extensions (RSVP-TE) P2MP LSP. The techniques also include extensions to the LDP that enable a router to advertise upstream label assignment capability to neighboring routers in the network. The MPLS upstream label assignment using LDP described herein enables a branch router to avoid traffic replication on a Local Area Network (LAN) for LDP P2MP LSPs.

Abstract: Techniques allow network devices to set up multiple multicast distribution structures for a given multicast group and source. According to the techniques, a multicast protocol is extended to include an instance number in the control messages, where the instance number corresponds to one of a plurality of instances for the multicast group and source. The network device sends a join request for each of the N instances for the multicast group to a plurality of upstream routers. Each of the join requests specifies a different instance of the multicast group to be joined. The source device for the multicast group selects one of the N instances, for example using a unicast Equal Cost Multipath (ECMP) hashing algorithm, and sends multicast content for the multicast group to via the multicast distribution structure corresponding to the selected one of the N instances.

Abstract: A hierarchical traffic policer may include a first policer configured to pass first packets when a first condition is met. The first policer also may alter selection information within the passed first packets. A second policer may be configured to pass second packets when a second condition is met. The second policer may be further configured to pass all of the passed first packets from the first policer based on the altered selection information within the passed first packets.

Abstract: The invention relates to a universal Address Pool Manager (APM) for processing network access address requests from clients operating at one of many access protocols. The APM, located within a network device, such as a router, manages an aggregated pool of network addresses and assigns addresses to the clients from the pool in accordance with the multiple access protocols. The aggregated address pool may be co-located within the network device with the APM, or alternatively, the address pool may be located within an off-box network device, such as an off-box authentication server or an off-box DHCP server. Utilization of an APM that manages an aggregated address pool for processing requests from multiple access protocols may reduce operational costs for network service providers that support multiple access networks.

Abstract: A method and a network device for sharing bandwidth among a group of classes of traffic for an interface are provided. Bandwidth may be allocated to at least one traffic class of a first priority for the interface. At least some unused bandwidth of the at least one traffic class may be allocated to at least one other traffic class of a second priority for the interface. In some implementations, weighted constituents may be allocated unused interface bandwidth based on an assigned weight of each of the weighted constituents of the interface.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method, comprising producing a first policy vector based on a first portion of a data packet received at a multi-stage switch. The method also includes producing a second policy vector based on a second portion of the data packet different than the first portion of the data packet. A third policy vector is produced based on a combination of at least the first policy vector and at least the second policy vector. The third policy vector including a combination of bit values configured to trigger an element at the multi-stage switch to process the data packet.

Abstract: Methods for optimizing the media path between multimedia endpoints in a network are described. One embodiment allows avoiding having to relay the media traffic through a central device, such as a border controller's media controller element, and lets endpoints communicate directly under various conditions.

Abstract: A network device includes multiple packet processing engines implemented in parallel with one another. A spraying component distributes incoming packets to the packet processing engines using a spraying technique that load balances the packet processing engines. In particular, the spraying component distributes the incoming packets based on queue lengths associated with the packet processing engines and based on a random component. In one implementation, the random component is a random selection from all the candidate processing engines. In another implementation, the random component is a weighted random selection in which the weights are inversely proportional to the queue lengths.