Abstract: An apparatus for developing portable packet processing applications on network processors includes a docking platform which provides a common interface for individual packet processing applications to be plugged into the network processing environment. Each application interacts with the docking platform through the common interfaces provided by the latter. The docking platform interacts with the other modules inside the system to accomplish the requests from the application. In this manner, the applications become “shielded” from the implementation details of the underlying hardware. The applications need not change when the network processor hardware features are changed. It therefore provides a universal packet processing programming environment in which applications can execute in a portable and flexible manner in various hardware architectures.

Abstract: A method processing packets for network processor applications. The method includes receiving a packet at an ingress connector of a docking platform from a network processor application, wherein the ingress connector is not specific to the network processor application. The method also includes processing the packet by a PPA shell, the PPA shell comprising a plurality of interfaces between the docking platform and the network processor application, where the plurality of interfaces is not specific to the network processor application, and where the processing comprises invoking at least one of a plurality of functions utilizing one of the plurality of interfaces, wherein the plurality of functions is specific to the network processor application.

Abstract: An apparatus for developing portable packet processing applications on network processors includes a docking platform which provides a common interface for individual packet processing applications to be plugged into the network processing environment. Each application interacts with the docking platform through the common interfaces provided by the latter. The docking platform interacts with the other modules inside the system to accomplish the requests from the application. In this manner, the applications become “shielded” from the implementation details of the underlying hardware. The applications need not change when the network processor hardware features are changed. It therefore provides a universal packet processing programming environment in which applications can execute in a portable and flexible manner in various hardware architectures.

Abstract: An efficient method for performing state based ingress packet selection for a packet processing system in a network processor is disclosed. With this method, each set of message classes is associated with a state of an application, and each set of message classes is assigned to a semaphore. The application blocks one of the semaphores based on its current state. When a message is received, and the message belongs to a class assigned to the blocked semaphore, the blocked semaphore is signaled. The blocked semaphore then wakes the application. In this manner, when the application is awakened, it is guaranteed to find a message that it is interested in processing in its current state, resulting in greater efficiency in the processing of ingress messages.