A network switch includes a first content addressable memory (CAM), a
second CAM, a binding lookup table (BLT), and a packet manager. The BLT
extracts two sets of header information from ingressing packets. The first
set is applied the first CAM to retrieve a service policy index. The
second set of header information is applied to the second CAM to determine
whether a connection already exists. If a connection exists, a flow
transmission control block (fTCB) pointer is retrieved from the second
CAM. Otherwise, if there is no current connection for the packet, a check
is made of the service policy index to determine the level of service
associated with the packet. Based on the assigned service level, a new
fTCB pointer is retrieved, or alternatively, client and server TCB
pointers are retrieved. The packet manager then processes the packet
according to which TCB pointer is retrieved.
