Abstract: A network device includes (i) a software forwarding engine, and (ii) a hardware forwarding engine, wherein the software forwarding engine is implemented using a processor executing machine readable instructions. The network device analyzes a header of a received packet to determine i) whether the received packet belongs to any flows of packets already known to the network device, and ii) a packet type of the received packet. The network device selects one of the software forwarding engine or the hardware forwarding engine to process the received packet based on i) whether the received packet belongs to any flows of packets already known to the network device, and ii) the determined packet type, including selecting the software forwarding engine when it is determined that the received packet does not belong to any flow of packets already known to the network device.

Abstract: A network device includes (i) a software forwarding engine, and (ii) a hardware forwarding engine, wherein the software forwarding engine is implemented using a processor executing machine readable instructions. The network device analyzes a header of a received packet to determine i) whether the received packet belongs to any flows of packets already known to the network device, and ii) a packet type of the received packet. The network device selects one of the software forwarding engine or the hardware forwarding engine to process the received packet based on i) whether the received packet belongs to any flows of packets already known to the network device, and ii) the determined packet type, including selecting the software forwarding engine when it is determined that the received packet does not belong to any flow of packets already known to the network device.

Abstract: A forwarding system comprises a identification engine, a hardware forwarding engine configured to process an ingressing packet, a software forwarding engine configured to process the ingressing packet, and a selection engine. The selection engine is configured to select one of the hardware forwarding engine or the software forwarding engine to process the ingressing packet. The selection is based on at least one of an indication of resource availability or a classification of the ingressing packet based on a priority of a flow as determined by the identification engine. In some embodiments, the selection engine selects different forwarding engines to process different packets of a same flow based on changes in resource availability or classification of the ingressing packet.

Abstract: A forwarding system comprises a identification engine, a hardware forwarding engine configured to process an ingressing packet, a software forwarding engine configured to process the ingressing packet, and a selection engine. The selection engine is configured to select one of the hardware forwarding engine or the software forwarding engine to process the ingressing packet. The selection is based on at least one of an indication of resource availability or a classification of the ingressing packet based on a priority of a flow as determined by the identification engine. In some embodiments, the selection engine selects different forwarding engines to process different packets of a same flow based on changes in resource availability or classification of the ingressing packet.