REDIRECTION IP PACKET THROUGH SWITCH FABRIC

• US 20170048154A1
• Filed: 04/18/2016
• Published: 02/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Luxar Tech, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Luxar Tech, Inc.
• Inventors: Fung, Hei Tao
• Granted Patent: US 9,917,794 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/66 Layer 2 routing, e.g. in Ethernet based MAN's
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/745 Address table lookup; Address filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/15 Interconnection of switching modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 Routing or path finding in a switch fabric

Abstract

A method for redirecting Internet Protocol (IP) packets from a packet redirect source to a packet redirect destination through a switch fabric of Ethernet switches is disclosed. At the packet redirect source, the topological location and the identifier of the packet redirect destination are put in a first set of bits and a second set of bits of the destination Media Access Control (MAC) address field of the packet to be redirected. The switch fabric forwards the packet to the switch directly connected to the packet redirect destination according to the first set of bits. Then the switch forwards the packet to the packet redirect destination according to the second set of bits.

Claims

1. A method for redirecting an Internet Protocol (IP) packet from a packet redirect source to a packet redirect destination through a switch fabric, the method comprising:

at said packet redirect source, copying a switch identifier of a switch of said switch fabric to a first subset of bits of a destination Media Access Control (MAC) address field of said IP packet, wherein said switch of said switch fabric is directly connected to said packet redirect destination;

at said packet redirect source, copying an index to a second subset of bits of said destination MAC address field of said IP packet, wherein said index at least indicates a port of said switch of said switch fabric, wherein said port of said switch is directly connected to said packet redirect destination;

in said switch fabric, forwarding said IP packet from said packet redirect source to said switch of said switch fabric according to said first subset of bits of said destination MAC address field of said IP packet; and

at said switch of said switch fabric, forwarding said IP packet out on said port of said switch according to said second subset of bits of said destination MAC address field of said IP packet.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising, at said switch of said switch fabric, copying a MAC address of said packet redirect destination to said destination MAC address field of said IP packet according to said second subset of bits of said destination MAC address field of said IP packet.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said forwarding said IP packet from said packet redirect source to said switch of said switch fabric does not alter a source MAC address field of said IP packet.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said switch identifier of said switch of said switch fabric represents a topological location of said switch within said switch fabric.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said port of said switch of said switch fabric is a link aggregation comprising one or more physical ports.

6. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising, at said packet redirect source, setting a U/L bit of said destination MAC address field of said IP packet to one.

7. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising, at said packet redirect source, setting a Time-To-Live (TTL) field of said IP packet to a value no less than an expected number of switches through said switch fabric from said packet redirect source to said packet redirect destination.

8. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising, in said switch fabric, decrementing a value of a TTL field of said IP packet at each switch through said switch fabric from said packet redirect source to said packet redirect destination.

9. A computer program product having computer program code including set of processor based instructions for redirecting an Internet Protocol (IP) packet from a packet redirect source to a packet redirect destination through a switch fabric, the computer program comprising:

computer program code for instructing said packet redirect source to copy a switch identifier of a switch of said switch fabric to a first subset of bits of a destination Media Access Control (MAC) address field of said IP packet, wherein said switch of said switch fabric is directly connected to said packet redirect destination;

computer program code for instructing said packet redirect source to copy an index to a second subset of bits of said destination MAC address field of said IP packet, wherein said index at least indicates a port of said switch of said switch fabric, wherein said port of said switch is directly connected to said packet redirect destination;

computer program code for instructing said switch fabric to forward said IP packet from said packet redirect source to said switch of said switch fabric according to said first subset of bits of said destination MAC address field of said IP packet; and

computer program code for instructing said switch of said switch fabric to forward said IP packet out on said port of said switch according to said second subset of bits of said destination MAC address field of said IP packet.

10. The computer program of claim 9, the computer program further comprising computer program code for instructing said switch of said switch fabric to copy a MAC address of said packet redirect destination to said destination MAC address field of said IP packet according to said second subset of bits of said destination MAC address field of said IP packet.

11. The computer program of claim 9, wherein said switch fabric does not alter a source MAC address field of said IP packet when said switch fabric forwards said IP packet from said packet redirect source to said switch of said switch fabric.

12. The computer program of claim 9, wherein said switch identifier of said switch of said switch fabric represents a topological location of said switch within said switch fabric.

13. The computer program of claim 9, wherein said port of said switch of said switch fabric is a link aggregation comprising one or more physical ports.

14. The computer program of claim 9, the computer program further comprising computer program code for instructing said switch fabric to decrement a value of a TTL field of said IP packet at each switch through said switch fabric from said packet redirect source to said packet redirect destination.

15. A system for redirecting an Internet Protocol (IP) packet, comprising:

a packet redirect source;

a packet redirect destination; and

a switch fabric, comprising a plurality of switches,

wherein said packet redirect source copies a switch identifier of a switch of said switch fabric to a first subset of bits of a destination Media Access Control (MAC) address field of said IP packet, wherein said switch of said switch fabric is directly connected to said packet redirect destination;

wherein said packet redirect source copies an index to a second subset of bits of said destination MAC address field of said IP packet, wherein said index at least indicates a port of said switch of said switch fabric, wherein said port of said switch is directly connected to said packet redirect destination;

wherein switch fabric forwards said IP packet from said packet redirect source to said switch of said switch fabric according to said first subset of bits of said destination MAC address field of said IP packet; and

wherein said switch of said switch fabric forwards said IP packet out on said port of said switch according to said second subset of bits of said destination MAC address field of said IP packet.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said switch of said switch fabric copies a MAC address of said packet redirect destination to said destination MAC address field of said IP packet according to said second subset of bits of said destination MAC address field of said IP packet.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein said switch fabric does not alter a source MAC address field of said IP packet when said switch fabric forwards said IP packet from said packet redirect source to said switch of said switch fabric.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein said switch identifier of said switch of said switch fabric represents a topological location of said switch within said switch fabric.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein said port of said switch of said switch fabric is a link aggregation comprising one or more physical ports.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein said switch fabric decrements a value of a TTL field of said IP packet at each switch through said switch fabric from said packet redirect source to said packet redirect destination.