netfilter integration with ASIC

[net expert <[e-mail]>]

Hello,

We have general purpose CPU (PPC) and an ASIC on our board. ASIC can
perform all lookups according to the packet address/port
source/destination,protocol type, MAC address source/destination.
Depending on the outcome of
the lookup ASIC can
- drop the packet
- forward the packet to one of the interfaces
- forward the packet to the CPU and so on.


We are running 2.6 Linux kernel in the CPU. Naturally I would like to
use netfilter for management of the hardware (ASIC) tables and use the
hardware to forward as many packets as possible without CPU
intervention.

I read through the documentation and started to study the source code.
It appears, that it's possible to solve the
problem. But I would like to avoid solving the same time problem
twice. Is there any example(s) for this type of integration ? any
documentation/tips/links could save me lot of time.

Thanks,