Mechanism for distributing statistics across multiple elements

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of memory devices;

a plurality of elemental propulsion engines (EPEs), each of which collects statistics for a sub-portion of packets processed by the apparatus and is in data communication with the plurality of memory devices, with the statistics being stored in one of the plurality of memory devices so that the statistics distributed among the plurality of memory devices defines the total statistical information for routing of the packets processed by the apparatus, defining a total statistics flow of data for the apparatus; and

a processor, in data communication with the plurality of memory devices to selectively read the plurality of memory devices and determine the total statistics flow of data for the apparatus.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a policing module coupled to transmit statistics to said plurality of memory devices concerning results of policing processing by the policing module.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the processor reads the plurality of memory elements periodically.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the processor reads the plurality of memory elements every five minutes.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of EPEs is coupled to one of said plurality of memory devices that contains statistical information concerning policing processes of packets received by the policing module from one of the plurality of EPEs coupled thereto.

6. A networking hardware machine, comprising:

a policing module; and

a multiple propulsion engine (MPE), coupled to the policing module, that distributes statistics data received from the policing module among multiple memory devices, with the MPE comprising a plurality of elemental propulsion engines (EPEs) and a plurality of dual data rate dynamic random access memories (DDRs), each coupled to a corresponding EPE, that stores statistics data received from the policing module.

7. The networking hardware machine of claim 6 wherein each EPE receives statistics data from the policing module and updates the statistics data within the corresponding DDR in response to receiving the statistics data.

8. The networking hardware machine of claim 7 further comprising a central processing unit (CPU), coupled to each of the plurality of EPEs, that accesses the DDRs via the EPEs in order to calculate a total statistics count.

9. The networking hardware machine of claim 6 wherein the MPE further comprises a scheduler, police and shaper (SPS) coupled to each of the plurality of EPEs.

10. The networking hardware machine of claim 6 wherein the networking hardware machine is a router.

11. A network, comprising:

a source device;

a networking hardware machine, coupled to the source device, that receives data packets from the source device and distributes statistics data corresponding to the data packets among multiple internal memory devices, the networking hardware machine further including a policing module and a multiple propulsion engine (MPE), coupled to the policing module, the MPE including a plurality of elemental propulsion engines (EPEs), and a plurality of dual data rate dynamic random access memories (DDRs), each coupled to a corresponding EPE and storing statistics data received from the policing module with the data stored in each of said DDRs corresponding to policing processes of data packets received at said policing module by said corresponding EPE from among said plurality of EPEs; and

a destination device coupled to the networking hardware machine.

12. The network of claim 11 wherein each EPE receives statistics data from the policing module and updates the statistics data within the corresponding DDR in response to receiving the statistics data.

13. The network of claim 12 wherein the networking hardware machine further comprises a central processing unit (CPU), coupled to each of the plurality of EPEs, that accesses the DDRs via the EPEs in order to calculate a total statistics count.

14. The network of claim 12 wherein the MPE further comprises a scheduler, police module and shaper (SPS) coupled to each of the plurality of EPEs.

15. The network of claim 11 wherein the networking hardware machine is a router.

16. A method, comprising:

receiving a plurality of data packets at a networking hardware machine;

distributing the plurality of data packets among a plurality of elemental propulsion engines (EPEs), each of which is associated with one of a plurality of memory devices;

processing, at each of the plurality of EPEs, packets distributed thereto, defining a sub-portion of the plurality of packets;

transmitting statistics data for each sub-portion of the plurality of data packets to the memory device associated with the EPE corresponding to the sub-portion to provide a plurality of stored statistics so that information distributed among the plurality of stored statistics defines a total statistical information for routing of the plurality of packets, defining a total statistics flow of data for the apparatus; and

selectively determining the total statistics flow of data by reading all of the plurality of memory devices having information corresponding to the sub-portion.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

receiving a first of the plurality of packets at one of the plurality of EPEs, defining a first elemental propulsion engine (EPE);

transmitting the first packet to a policing module;

transmitting statistics data corresponding to the first packet to the first EPE; and

storing the statistics data corresponding to the first packet at a first of the plurality of memory devices.