HASH PROCESSING IN A NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS PROCESSOR ARCHITECTURE

Described embodiments provide a hash processor for a system having multiple processing modules and a shared memory. The hash processor includes a descriptor table with N entries, each entry corresponding to a hash table of the hash processor. A direct mapped table in the shared memory includes at least one memory block including N hash buckets. The direct mapped table includes a predetermined number of hash buckets for each hash table. Each hash bucket includes one or more hash key and value pairs, and a link value. Memory blocks in the shared memory include dynamic hash buckets available for allocation to a hash table. A dynamic hash bucket is allocated to a hash table when the hash buckets in the direct mapped table are filled beyond a threshold. The link value in the hash bucket is set to the address of the dynamic hash bucket allocated to the hash table.