Vlan tables management system in hard material were based packet switching points for the memory efficient reading and writing

摘要

Described herein is a method and apparatus for memory efficient fast VLAN lookups and inserts in hardware-based packet switches. A table management engine (TME) is introduced into the switches to accelerate date searches and management. The TME manages a memory which is devided into two tables, one containing the data entries ('data entry table' 203), one containing the pointers and validity bits ('pointer table' 205). The TME comprises a reader/hasher (206), an executive table engine (208), a free list engine (210) and a control element (214). The reader/hasher obtains content from a key, which can be a VLAN rule. The executive table engine uses the kex content to address a pointer location in memory to retrieve the data. The executive table engine is also responsible for writing /deleting data into the memory and for pointers management.