Packet Processing System and Method, Machine-Readable Storage Medium, and Program Product

After receiving a packet, a programmable forwarding device determines whether a flow entry matching the packet exists in a local flow table of the programmable forwarding device. If the flow entry does not exist, the programmable forwarding device sends the packet to a computing device. After receiving the packet, a programmable network adapter in the computing device determines whether a flow entry matching the packet exists in a local flow table of the programmable network adapter. If the flow entry does not exist, the programmable network adapter sends the packet to a processor in the computing device, so that a gateway running on the processor processes the packet.