Distributed vlan mechanism for packet field replacement in a

Abstract

A system and method for updating packet headers using hardware that maintains the high performance of the network element. In one embodiment, the system includes an input port process (IPP) that buffers the input packet received and forwards header information to the search engine. The search engine searches a database maintained on the switch element to determine the type of the packet. In one embodiment, the type may indicate whether the packet can be routed in hardware. In another embodiment, the type may indicate whether the packet supports VLANs. The search engine sends the packet type information to the IPP along with the destination address (DA) to be updated if the packet is to be routed, or a VLAN tag if the packet has been identified to be forwarded to a particular VLAN. The IPP, during transmission of the packet to a packet memory selectively replaces the corresponding fields, e.g., DA field or VLAN tag field; the modified packet is stored in the packet memory. Associated with the packet memory are control fields containing control field information conveyed to the packet memory by the IPP. An output port process (OPP) reads the modified input packet and the control field information and selectively performs additional modifications to the modified input packet and issue control signals to the output interface (i.e., MAC). The MAC, based upon the control signals, replaces the source address field with the address of the MAC and generates a CRC that is appended to the end of the packet.