ROUTER AGGREGATION

• US 20120020358A1
• Filed: 08/12/2011
• Published: 01/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Bare, Ballard Claude, Wakumoto, Shaun Kazuo
• Granted Patent: US 9,077,663 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/18 for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/58 Association of routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers

Abstract

A router programmed to function within an aggregation of a plurality of routers that appears as a single router externally is programmed to determine whether it is a first router in the aggregation of routers to receive a data packet. If the router is a first router in the aggregation of routers to receive a data packet, the router is programmed to perform layer 3 routing for the data packet including modification of the source and destination Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of the packet, and then transmit the packet to another router in the aggregation of routers for layer 2 switching of the packet. If the router is not a first router in the aggregation of routers to receive a data packet, the router is programmed to only perform layer 2 switching of the packet, with layer 3 routing for the data packet having already been performed by another router in the aggregation of routers.

Claims

1. A router programmed to function within an aggregation of a plurality of routers that appears as a single router externally,

said router being programmed to determine whether it is a first router in said aggregation of routers to receive a data packet,

if said router is a first router in said aggregation of routers to receive a data packet, said router is programmed to perform layer 3 routing for the data packet including modification of the source and destination Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of the packet, and then transmit the packet to another router in said aggregation of routers for layer 2 switching of the packet, and

if said router is not a first router in said aggregation of routers to receive a data packet, said router is programmed to only perform layer 2 switching of the packet, with layer 3 routing for the data packet having already been performed by another router in said aggregation of routers.

2. The router of claim 1, further comprising a connection to a switch mesh that interconnects said routers of said aggregation.

3. The router of claim 2, further comprising load balancing using a broadcast map for the switch mesh to route a multicast data packet.

4. The router of claim 1, further comprising Management Information Base (MIB) parameters indicating which routers are interconnected so as to form said aggregation of routers.

5. The router of claim 1, further comprising an Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) cache for receiving ARP information from other routers in said aggregation of routers.

6. The router of claim 5, wherein said router only ages out an ARP entry in the ARP cache for which it is the owner and then notifies other routers in said aggregation of routers.

7. The router of claim 1, wherein, if said router learns about a route change for connected interfaces to subnets external to said aggregation, said router updates a routing table and propagates routing table update information to other routers in said aggregation of routers.

8. The router of claim 1, wherein said router is configured using virtual router redundancy protocol (VRRP).

9. A router for routing data packets in a data network,

said router being programmed to serve as an edge router in an aggregation of a plurality of routers wherein said edge router is a first router in said aggregation of routers to receive a data packet,

said router being programmed to perform layer 3 routing for a received data packet including modification of the source and destination Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of the packet, and

said router being programmed to then transmit the packet to another router in said aggregation of routers for layer 2 switching of the packet.

10. The router of claim 9, further comprising a connection to a switch mesh that interconnects said routers of said aggregation.

11. The router of claim 10, further comprising load balancing using a broadcast map for the switch mesh to route a multicast data packet.

12. The router of claim 9, further comprising Management Information Base (MIB) parameters indicating which routers are interconnected so as to form said aggregation of routers.

13. The router of claim 9, further comprising an Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) cache for receiving ARP information from other routers in said aggregation of routers.

14. The router of claim 9, wherein said router only ages out an ARP entry in the ARP cache for which it is the owner and then notifies other routers in said aggregation of routers.

15. The router of claim 9, wherein, if said router learns about a route change for connected interfaces to subnets external to said aggregation, said router updates a routing table and propagates routing table update information to other routers in said aggregation of routers.

16. The router of claim 9, wherein said router is configured using virtual router redundancy protocol (VRRP).

17. A router for routing data packets in a data network,

said router being programmed to serve as a layer 2 switch in an aggregation of a plurality of routers, wherein said router is programmed to receive a data packet from an edge router in said aggregation of routers that is a first router in said aggregation of routers to receive a data packet, and

said router being programmed to perform layer 2 switching of the packet, with layer 3 routing for the data packet, including modification of the source and destination Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of the packet, having already been performed by said edge router.

18. The router of claim 17, further comprising a connection to a switch mesh that interconnects said routers of said aggregation.

19. The router of claim 17, further comprising Management Information Base (MIB) parameters indicating which routers are interconnected so as to form said aggregation of routers.

20. The router of claim 17, further comprising an Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) cache for receiving ARP information from other routers in said aggregation of routers.