METHOD & APPARATUS FOR FORWARDING TABLE REDUCTION
First Claim
1. A method for reducing the size of a first forwarding table, comprising:
- a packet network device learning at least one network address for each of a plurality of network nodes and storing in the first forwarding table the at least one network address in association with a portID on which the at least one address is learned; and
determining that at least two of the network addresses stored in the first forwarding table meet a predetermined set of network address aggregation conditions, aggregating the at least two network addresses into a single, aggregated network address and storing the aggregated network address in a second forwarding table.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A LAN includes a router that is connected to two or more racks of servers and each of the servers can support a plurality of virtual machines. The router is configured to forward data packets based on IP destination addresses or based on destination MAC addresses and builds and maintains forwarding tables in support of data packet forwarding in the layer 3 and the layer 2 network environment. In support of layer 2 forwarding, the router builds and maintains an aggregated MAC switching table that is comprise of a subset of the table entries typically needed to switch packets to their destination, and in support of layer 3 forwarding, the router or switch builds and maintains an aggregated ARP forwarding table that is comprised of a subset of the table entries typically needed to forward packets to their destination.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for reducing the size of a first forwarding table, comprising:
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a packet network device learning at least one network address for each of a plurality of network nodes and storing in the first forwarding table the at least one network address in association with a portID on which the at least one address is learned; and determining that at least two of the network addresses stored in the first forwarding table meet a predetermined set of network address aggregation conditions, aggregating the at least two network addresses into a single, aggregated network address and storing the aggregated network address in a second forwarding table. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A packet network device, comprising:
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ingress and egress ports; a packet processor; and a control processor for building and maintaining a full forwarding table comprising two or more network addresses and, subject to a set of network address aggregation conditions, for determining that two or more of the network addresses can be aggregated and entering the aggregated network addresses into an aggregated forwarding table stored in memory associated with the packet processor which uses the aggregated addresses to forward packets received over any one of the ingress ports by the packet network device to their destination over the correct egress port. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification