Patent attributes
A Software-Defined Networking (SDN) switch includes external network ports for receiving external network traffic onto the SDN switch, external network ports for transmitting external network traffic out of the SDN switch, a first Network Flow Switch (NFX) integrated circuit that has multiple network ports and that maintains a first flow table, another Network Flow Switch (NFX) integrated circuit that has multiple network ports and that maintains a second flow table, a Network Flow Processor (NFP) circuit that maintains a third flow table, and a controller processor circuit that maintains a fourth flow table. The controller processor circuit is coupled by a serial bus to the NFP circuit but is not directly coupled by any network port to either the NFP circuit nor the first NFX integrated circuit nor the second NFX integrated circuit.
