BigPatents India

Provided are methods and apparatus that enforce zoning rules by separately employing source and destination information. In certain embodiments, information uniquely identifying network destinations is provided on a destination CAM. In these embodiments, each destination identified in the destination CAM has an associated zoning decision vector provided in a results memory. The vector provides specific zoning decisions (permit or deny transmission) for specific sources on the network. The specific zoning decision to be applied to a frame under consideration is selected from a zoning decision vector by using source information taken from the frame.