ARP caching apparatus and method
First Claim
1. A method for reducing traffic in a large-scale, high-speed computer network, the method comprising:
- creating a database for containing IP addresses associated with MAC addresses;
receiving an ARP broadcast having a designated IP address; and
responding to the ARP broadcast with a requested MAC address associated with the designated IP address in the database.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus, data structures, and method are provided for reducing data transmissions, especially ARP broadcast and response transmissions, within a computer network. An ARP caching station may be provided as an add-on component for a switching station. The ARP caching station then reads IP layer and MAC layer addresses of packets transmitted through the switching station and stores them in a database. In the database, each IP layer address is associated, or bound, with its corresponding MAC layer address. When the switching station receives an ARP broadcast with a designated IP address, the ARP caching station looks up the designated IP address in the database. If it has an associated MAC layer address in the table, the ARP caching station formulates a response to the broadcast containing the requested MAC layer address. If the requested MAC layer address is not in the cache of the ARP caching station, the switching station may then propagate the request to receive a response from the communication station having the requested MAC address.
88 Citations
35 Claims
-
1. A method for reducing traffic in a large-scale, high-speed computer network, the method comprising:
-
creating a database for containing IP addresses associated with MAC addresses;
receiving an ARP broadcast having a designated IP address; and
responding to the ARP broadcast with a requested MAC address associated with the designated IP address in the database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A computer-readable medium containing instructions that cause a traffic reduction system configured to reduce traffic in a large-scale, high speed computer network to perform a method comprising:
-
creating a database containing IP addresses associated with MAC addresses;
receiving an ARP broadcast having a designated IP address; and
responding to the ARP broadcast with a requested MAC address associated with the designated IP address. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
-
-
14. A traffic reduction system configured to reduce traffic in a large-scale, high speed computer network, the system comprising:
-
a cache writing module configured to store an IP address associated with a MAC address;
a cache reading module configured to receive the MAC address; and
a packet preparation module configured to prepare a data transmission containing the MAC address. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A computer-readable medium for a system configured to reduce traffic in a large-scale, high-speed computer network, the computer readable medium comprising:
-
a cache writing module configured to store an IP address associated with a MAC address;
a cache reading module configured to receive the MAC address; and
a packet preparation module configured to prepare a data transmission containing the MAC address. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
-
25. A switching system configured to route data transmissions between a plurality of locations, the switching system comprising:
-
a switching station configured to receive and send data transmissions;
an ARP caching station configured to store IP addresses with associated MAC addresses;
the ARP caching station, further configured to prepare a data transmission containing a requested MAC address; and
the requested MAC address, corresponding to a designated IP address. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
-
-
30. A method for reducing traffic in a large-scale, high-speed computer network, the method comprising:
-
receiving an ARP broadcast from a first communication station of the network, the ARP broadcast comprising a designated IP address corresponding to a second communication station of the network;
transmitting a response to the ARP broadcast, the response comprising a requested MAC address corresponding to the second communication station; and
wherein receiving the ARP broadcast and transmitting the response are independent of the second communication station. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
-
Specification