Fast and scalable packet classification

Emerging Internet applications create the need for advanced packet classifiers. We propose a novel multifield classification scheme, called P/sup 2/C, which exploits the strengths of state-of-the-art memory technologies to provide wire-speed classification performance for OC-192 and beyond, in combination with very high storage efficiency and the support of fast incremental updates. Key features of the new scheme are its ability to adapt to the complexity of a classification rule set, whereas the storage requirements and update dynamics can be tuned at the granularity of individual rules. This makes P/sup 2/C suitable for a broad spectrum of applications.