IP-based interconnection of switches with a logical chassis
First Claim
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1. A switch, comprising:
- one or more ports;
chassis management circuitry configured to assign a virtual Internet Protocol (IP) address to the switch, wherein the virtual IP address is associated with a logical unit comprising the switch and a second switch in a network of interconnected switches, wherein the network of interconnected switches further includes a third switch and is identified by a fabric identifier distinct from the virtual IP address, and wherein the fabric identifier is assigned to a respective switch of the network of interconnected switches; and
tunnel circuitry configured to;
encapsulate a packet with a tunnel header associated with a tunnel between the logical unit and the third switch, wherein the tunnel header includes the virtual IP address as a source address and a second IP address of the third switch as a destination address; and
determine a port from the one or more ports as an egress port for the encapsulated packet based on the second IP address.
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Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes a logical channel apparatus and a tunnel apparatus. The logical channel apparatus associates a logical channel identifier of a logical channel with the switch and assigns an Internet Protocol (IP) address as switch identifier of the switch. The logical channel includes a plurality of member switches and the switch is a member switch of the logical channel. The IP address uniquely identifies the switch in the logical channel. The tunnel apparatus establishes a tunnel with a remote switch in the logical channel. An inter-switch packet from the switch is encapsulated in a tunnel header associated with the tunnel.
689 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A switch, comprising:
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one or more ports; chassis management circuitry configured to assign a virtual Internet Protocol (IP) address to the switch, wherein the virtual IP address is associated with a logical unit comprising the switch and a second switch in a network of interconnected switches, wherein the network of interconnected switches further includes a third switch and is identified by a fabric identifier distinct from the virtual IP address, and wherein the fabric identifier is assigned to a respective switch of the network of interconnected switches; and tunnel circuitry configured to; encapsulate a packet with a tunnel header associated with a tunnel between the logical unit and the third switch, wherein the tunnel header includes the virtual IP address as a source address and a second IP address of the third switch as a destination address; and determine a port from the one or more ports as an egress port for the encapsulated packet based on the second IP address. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification