Importance

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Abstract

A system and method are provided for distributing or sharing the processing of network traffic (e.g., through a protocol stack on a host computer system) received at a multiprocessor computer system. A packet formatted according to one or more communication protocols is received from a network entity at a network interface circuit of a multiprocessor computer. A header portion of the packet is parsed to retrieve information stored in one or more protocol headers, such as source and destination identifiers or a virtual communication connection identifier. In one embodiment, a source identifier and a destination identifier are combined to form a flow key that is subjected to a hash function. The modulus of the result of the hash function over the number of processors in the multiprocessor computer is then calculated. In another embodiment a modulus operation is performed on the packet's virtual communication connection identifier. The result of the modulus operation identifies a processor to which the packet is submitted for processing.

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First Claim