Systems and methods for carrier ethernet using referential tables for forwarding decisions

[0022]In various exemplary embodiments, the present invention maintains current mechanisms of Ethernet addressing and QoS marking with the addition of specific referential tables. The referential tables are utilized for forwarding decisions based on any and / or multiple fields within the packets simultaneously, such as, for example, incoming port number, incoming MAC, incoming VLAN, outgoing MAC, outgoing VLAN, P-bits, DSCP, MPLS label, TCP / UDP port numbers, IP, SIP, HTTP, and the like. A user can define the forwarding criteria based on any combination / permutation fields in the packet. Advantageously, the present invention removes the need to introduce explicit tunnel labels in the Ethernet frame in order to maintain the desired QoS within the network removing explicit labeling requirements.

[0023]Referring to FIG. 3, a Carrier Ethernet network 30 is illustrated according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The network 30 includes a connection 32 between clients 34