Data Flow Through the M40e Router Packet Forwarding Engine

Data flows through the M40e router Packet Forwarding Engine in the sequence shown Figure 18.

Figure 18: M40e Router Packet Forwarding Engine Components and Data Flow

1. Packets arrive at an incoming PIC interface.
2. The PIC passes the packets to the FPC, where the Packet Director ASIC directs them to the active I/O Manager ASIC.
3. The I/O Manager ASIC processes the packet headers, divides the packets into 64-byte data cells, and passes the cells through the midplane to the SFM.
4. A Distributed Buffer Manager ASIC on the SFM distributes the data cells throughout the memory buffers located on and shared by all the FPCs.
5. The Internet Processor II ASIC on the SFM performs a route lookup for each packet and decides how to forward it.
6. The Internet Processor II ASIC notifies the second Distributed Buffer Manager ASIC (on the SFM) of the forwarding decision, and the Distributed Buffer Manager ASIC forwards the notification to the FPC that hosts the appropriate outbound interface.
7. The I/O Manager ASIC on the FPC reassembles data cells stored in shared memory into data packets as they are ready for transmission and passes them through the Packet Director ASIC to the outbound PIC.
8. The outbound PIC transmits the data packets.