ETHERNET FORWARDING IN HIGH PERFORMANCE FABRICS
First Claim
1. A method of forwarding an Ethernet frame through a fabric that supports multi-path routing, wherein the Ethernet frame has addressing that includes a physical L2 source address of a source end station and a physical L2 destination address of a destination end station, the method comprising:
- determining a virtual L2 destination address for the Ethernet frame, wherein the virtual L2 destination address includes information used for multi-path routing the frame to the destination end station;
modifying the addressing of the Ethernet frame to include the determined virtual L2 destination address;
forwarding the modified Ethernet frame through the fabric to the destination end station using a multi-path routing protocol based on the addressing of the modified Ethernet frame.
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Accused Products
Abstract
As switching device forwards frames through a fabric using high performance routing protocols without requiring changes in receiving and transmitting Ethernet end stations communicating through the fabric. Each frame received by an edge point of a high performance fabric is modified to support a high performance routing protocol while the frame is within the fabric and is restored to its original format when leaving the fabric. Within the fabric, virtual L2 addressing, assigned and maintained by the fabric, is applied to the frame to accommodate the high performance routing.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of forwarding an Ethernet frame through a fabric that supports multi-path routing, wherein the Ethernet frame has addressing that includes a physical L2 source address of a source end station and a physical L2 destination address of a destination end station, the method comprising:
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determining a virtual L2 destination address for the Ethernet frame, wherein the virtual L2 destination address includes information used for multi-path routing the frame to the destination end station; modifying the addressing of the Ethernet frame to include the determined virtual L2 destination address; forwarding the modified Ethernet frame through the fabric to the destination end station using a multi-path routing protocol based on the addressing of the modified Ethernet frame. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A switching device for forwarding an Ethernet frame through a fabric that supports multi-path routing, wherein the Ethernet frame has addressing that includes a physical L2 source address of a source end station and a physical L2 destination address of a destination end station, the switching device comprising:
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an address translation module that determines determining a virtual L2 destination address for the Ethernet frame, wherein the virtual L2 destination address includes information used for multi-path routing the Ethernet frame to the destination end station; a frame translation module that modifies the addressing of the Ethernet frame to include the determined virtual L2 destination address; a transmission module that forwards the modified Ethernet frame through the fabric to the destination end station using a multi-path routing protocol based on the addressing of the modified Ethernet frame. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of forwarding an Ethernet frame through a fabric that supports multi-path routing, wherein the Ethernet frame has addressing that includes a physical L2 source address of a source end station and a physical L2 destination address of a destination end station, the method comprising:
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determining a virtual L2 destination address for the Ethernet frame, wherein the virtual L2 destination address includes information used for multi-path routing the frame to the destination end station; modifying the addressing of the Ethernet frame to include the determined virtual L2 destination address, the determined virtual L2 destination address including a domain identifier of an edge switch receiving the Ethernet frame from the source end station and a port identifier of a port of an edge switch receiving the Ethernet frame from the source end station; forwarding the modified Ethernet frame through the fabric to the destination end station using a multi-path routing protocol based on the addressing of the modified Ethernet frame. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification