| US 7,616,563 B1 | ||
| Method to implement an L4-L7 switch using split connections and an offloading NIC | ||
| Asgeir Thor Eiriksson, Sunnyvale, Calif. (US); and Wael Noureddine, Mountain View, Calif. (US) | ||
| Assigned to Chelsio Communications, Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif. (US) | ||
| Filed on Feb. 17, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/356,850. | ||
| Application 11/356850 is a continuation in part of application No. 11/330898, filed on Jan. 12, 2006. | ||
| Application 11/330898 is a continuation in part of application No. 11/313003, filed on Dec. 19, 2005. | ||
| Application 11/313003 is a continuation in part of application No. 11/282933, filed on Nov. 18, 2005. | ||
| Application 11/282933 is a continuation in part of application No. 11/217661, filed on Aug. 31, 2005. | ||
| Int. Cl. H04L 12/26 (2006.01); H04L 12/28 (2006.01); H04J 3/16 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 370—230 [370/389; 370/469] | 23 Claims |
| 1. A method of operating intelligent network interface circuitry, wherein the network interface circuitry couples a core processor
to a network to facilitate communication over the network between the core processor and at least a first peer and a second
peer, wherein a first connection connects to the first peer and a second connection connects to the second peer, a plurality
of connections, including the second connection, connecting to a plurality of separate peers, the method comprising:
by the network interface circuitry,
receiving data packets from the first peer via the network on the first connection, according to a first particular protocol;
and
processing the received data, including associating, with the second connection, data that is at least a portion of the data
packets received on the first connection, such that the data received by the intelligent network interface circuitry on the
first connection is switched to be outgoing from the intelligent network interface circuitry on the second connection, according
to a second particular protocol
wherein
the first particular protocol operates at no higher than layer 4, and
processing the received data includes processing the packets at higher than layer 4, wherein the associating is based on a
result of processing the layers higher than layer 4 to determine which of the plurality of connections is the second connection.
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