Method for performing protocol translation in a network switch

1. A method, comprising:

translating a packet from a first protocol-specific format, of a set of protocol-specific formats supported by a network device, to a generic packet format yielding a generic packet, wherein

the generic packet format is configured to be translated to any of the set of protocol-specific formats, and

the generic packet format comprises a shared field configured to contain at least a first value associated with a first field of one of the protocol-specific formats and a second value associated with a second field of another of the protocol-specific formats, wherein the first field is different than the second field.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generic packet format comprises a multiple protocol-specific field associated with a first field that is common to multiple protocol-specific formats of the set and a protocol-specific field associated with a second field that is specific exclusively to one protocol-specific format of the set.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the translating comprises translating by a network switch device that comprises a pooling switch.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the translating comprises writing information associated with a protocol-specific field of the packet in the first protocol-specific format to a common field of the generic packet.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the translating comprises:

writing first information associated with a general field of the packet in the first protocol-specific format to a corresponding general field of the generic packet;

writing second information associated with a common field of the packet in the first protocol-specific format to a corresponding common field of the generic packet;

writing third information associated with a protocol-specific field of the packet in the first protocol-specific format to a corresponding protocol-specific field of the generic packet; and

writing fourth information associated with a payload field of the packet in the first protocol-specific format to a corresponding payload field of the generic packet.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one field of the generic packet format is shared by multiple protocol-specific formats of the set.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the translating comprises first translating by an ingress processing engine that receives the packet from an ingress link interface of the network device, and the method further comprises second translating the generic packet, by an egress processing engine of the network device, from the generic packet format to one of the set of protocol-specific formats.

8. A network device, comprising:

an ingress interface configured to receive a packet in a protocol-specific format of a set of protocol-specific formats supported by the network device; and

an ingress processing engine configured to translate the packet from the protocol-specific format to a canonical packet format to yield a generic packet, wherein the canonical packet format is configured to be translated from the canonical packet format to any of the set of protocol-specific formats, and the canonical packet format comprises at least one shared field configured to

in response to a determination that the protocol-specific format is a first protocol-specific format, store at least a first value of a first field of the first protocol-specific format, and

in response to a determination that the protocol-specific format is a second protocol-specific format, store a second value of a second field of the second protocol-specific format.

9. The network device of claim 8 , wherein the canonical packet format further comprises at least one general field corresponding to at least one first field that is common to all of the set of protocol-specific formats, at least one multiple protocol-specific field corresponding to at least one second field that is common a plurality of the set of protocol-specific formats less than all of the set of protocol-specific formats, and at least one protocol-specific field corresponding to at least one third field that is common to only one of the set of protocol-specific formats.

10. The network device of claim 8 , further comprising an egress processing engine configured to translate the canonical packet format to any of the set of protocol-specific formats to yield a translated packet, and

an egress interface configured to send the converted packet.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system to perform operations, comprising:

translating a packet from a protocol-specific format to a generic packet format to generate a generic packet that is translatable to any of a set of protocol-specific formats supported by a network device, wherein the translating comprises:

in response to a determination that the protocol-specific format is a first protocol-specific format, write a first value of a first field of the first protocol-specific format to a shared field of the generic packet format, and

in response to a determination that the protocol-specific format is a second protocol-specific format, write a second value of a second field of the second protocol-specific format to the shared field of the generic packet format, wherein the second field is different than the first field.

12. A method, comprising:

receiving a packet derived via translation of a protocol-specific format, of multiple protocol-specific formats supported by a network device, to a canonical packet format,

wherein the canonical packet format is translatable to any of the multiple protocol-specific formats, and comprises a shared field configured to:

in response to a determination that the protocol-specific format is a first protocol-specific format, store at least a first value of a first field of the first protocol-specific format, and

in response to a determination that the protocol-specific format is a second protocol-specific format, store a second value of a second field of the second protocol-specific format, wherein the second field performs a different function than the first field.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the canonical packet format comprises a multiple protocol-specific field corresponding to a first field that is common to more than one of the multiple protocol-specific formats, and a protocol-specific field corresponding to a second field that is specific exclusively to one of the multiple protocol-specific formats.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising translating the packet from the canonical packet format to one of the multiple protocol-specific formats by a network switch that comprises a pooling switch.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising translating the packet from the canonical packet format to a target protocol-specific format of the multiple protocol-specific formats, wherein the translating comprises writing information associated with a common field of the packet to a protocol-specific field of a translated packet in the target protocol-specific format.

16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising translating the packet from the canonical packet format to a target protocol-specific format, of the multiple protocol-specific formats, to yield a translated packet, wherein the translating comprises:

writing first information associated with a general field from the packet in the canonical packet format to a corresponding first field of the translated packet;

writing second information associated with a common field from the packet in the canonical packet format to a corresponding second field of the translated packet, wherein the common field corresponds to a first field that is common to the protocol-specific format and the target protocol-specific format;

writing third information associated with a protocol-specific field from the packet in the canonical packet format to a corresponding third field of the translated packet, wherein the protocol-specific field corresponds to a second field that is specific to the target protocol-specific format; and

writing fourth information associated with a payload field from the packet in the canonical packet format to a corresponding fourth field of the translated packet.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein at least one field of the canonical packet format is shared by more than one of the multiple protocol-specific formats.

18. A network device, comprising:

an ingress processing engine configured to translate a packet from a protocol-specific format, of a set of protocol-specific formats supported by the network device, to a canonical packet comprising a generic packet format capable of translation to any of the set of protocol-specific formats; and

an egress processing engine configured to translate the canonical packet to a selected protocol-specific format of the set of protocol-specific formats,

wherein the canonical packet comprises a shared field configured to contain at least a first value associated with a first field of one of the protocol-specific formats and a second value associated with a second field of another of the protocol-specific formats, wherein the first field is different than the second field.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, in response to execution, cause a computing device to perform operations, comprising:

receiving a packet that has been translated from a protocol-specific format, of a set of protocol-specific formats, to a canonical packet comprising a generic packet format configured to be translated to any of the set of protocol-specific formats, wherein the generic packet format comprises a shared field configured to store a first value associated with a first field of a first of the protocol-specific formats and a second value associated with a second field of a second of the protocol-specific formats, and the first field is different than the second field; and

translating the packet from the canonical packet format to another protocol-specific format of the set of protocol-specific formats.