MAC address learning apparatus
First Claim
1. For use in a network providing a wide-area LAN service which allows communications to be performed between a plurality of second networks via a first network, a MAC address learning apparatus comprising edge switches located in said first network and connected to said second networks, wherein each of said edge switches comprises:
- a tentative learning registration means which, when a packet whose source MAC address and receiving port are not yet learned is received from said first network, registers said source MAC address and said receiving port in a tentatively learned state;
a learned state changing means which, when a packet whose destination MAC address is registered in a learned state is received from an associated one of said second networks, changes the learned state of said destination MAC address to a permanently learned state; and
a permanent learning registration means which, when a packet whose destination MAC address is registered in a learned state is received from said first network, registers the source MAC address and receiving port of the packet received from said first network in a permanently learned state.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a network providing a wide-area LAN service which allows communications to be performed between user networks (12, 13) via a carrier network (11), edge switches (14, 15) each comprise: a tentative learning registration means (16) which, when a packet whose source MAC address and receiving port are not yet learned is received from the carrier network, registers the source MAC address and the receiving port in a tentatively learned state; a learned state changing means (17) which changes the learned state of the destination MAC address of a packet received from an associated one of the user networks to a permanently learned state; and a permanent learning registration means which, when a packet whose destination MAC address is registered in a learned state is received from the carrier network, registers the source MAC address and receiving port of the packet received from the carrier network in a permanently learned state. The invention thus provides a MAC address learning apparatus that improves the hit rate in a MAC address learning table maintained in each of the edge switches (14, 15) provided in a wide-area VLAN carrier network.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. For use in a network providing a wide-area LAN service which allows communications to be performed between a plurality of second networks via a first network, a MAC address learning apparatus comprising edge switches located in said first network and connected to said second networks, wherein each of said edge switches comprises:
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a tentative learning registration means which, when a packet whose source MAC address and receiving port are not yet learned is received from said first network, registers said source MAC address and said receiving port in a tentatively learned state;
a learned state changing means which, when a packet whose destination MAC address is registered in a learned state is received from an associated one of said second networks, changes the learned state of said destination MAC address to a permanently learned state; and
a permanent learning registration means which, when a packet whose destination MAC address is registered in a learned state is received from said first network, registers the source MAC address and receiving port of the packet received from said first network in a permanently learned state. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A MAC address learning method for use in a network providing a wide-area LAN service which allows communications to be performed between a plurality of second networks via a first network, wherein each of edge switches located in said first network and connected to said second networks performs control so that:
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when a packet whose source MAC address and receiving port are not yet learned is received from said first network, said source MAC address and said receiving port are registered in a tentatively learned state;
when a packet whose destination MAC address is registered in a learned state is received from an associated one of said second networks, the learned state of said destination MAC address is changed to a permanently learned state; and
when a packet whose destination MAC address is registered in a learned state is received from said first network, the source MAC address and receiving port of the packet received from said first network are registered in a permanently learned state. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification