Load sharing and redundancy scheme
First Claim
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1. A device for forwarding packets in a network, comprising:
- a first router having a first processor and a first memory associated therewith; and
a second router having a second processor and a second memory associated therewith, the first router and the second router sharing a set of interfaces;
means for sending synchronized state information indicating states of ports associated with the set of interfaces and VLAN membership information via the set of interfaces; and
means for detecting a failure of the second router such that the first router forwards packets received at the set of interfaces in response to the detection of failure of the second router.
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for providing a device for forwarding packets in a network are disclosed. A first router and a second router having a shared set of interfaces are provided, enabling the first router and the second router to share forwarding data for forwarding packets on the shared set of interfaces.
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Citations
90 Claims
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1. A device for forwarding packets in a network, comprising:
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a first router having a first processor and a first memory associated therewith; and a second router having a second processor and a second memory associated therewith, the first router and the second router sharing a set of interfaces; means for sending synchronized state information indicating states of ports associated with the set of interfaces and VLAN membership information via the set of interfaces; and means for detecting a failure of the second router such that the first router forwards packets received at the set of interfaces in response to the detection of failure of the second router. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A master router adapted for forwarding packets received at a set of interfaces, comprising:
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means for maintaining a routing table; means for running a protocol; means for updating a database in the master router with updates, the updates including at least one of synchronized state information indicating states of ports associated with the set of interfaces and VLAN membership of the master router; and means for sending the updates to a slave router, thereby enabling the slave router to forward packets received at the set of interfaces using the updates received from the master router. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A slave router adapted for forwarding packets received at a set of interfaces, comprising:
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means for maintaining a routing table; means for receiving updates from a master router running a protocol, the updates including at least one of synchronized state information indicating states of ports associated with the set of interfaces and VLAN membership of the master router; and means for updating a database with the updates received from the master router, thereby enabling the slave router to forward packets received at the set of interfaces upon failure of the master router. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A switching system including a master router and a slave router having a shared set of interfaces, comprising:
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means for maintaining a first set of forwarding data for the master router and a second set of forwarding data for the slave router; means for sending forwarding data updates from the master router to the slave router; means for sending at least one of synchronized state information indicating states of ports associated with the set of interfaces and VLAN membership of the master router to the slave router; means for obtaining packet header data from the shared set of interfaces; and means for updating the second set of forwarding data with the forwarding data updates sent from the master router and the packet header data obtained from the shared set of interfaces. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A system including a first router and a second router having a shared set of interfaces, a first forwarding engine coupled to the set of interfaces and the first router, the first forwarding engine being associated with a first set of forwarding engine tables for facilitating forwarding of packets in hardware, and a second forwarding engine coupled to the set of interfaces and the second router, the second forwarding engine being associated with a second set of forwarding engine tables for facilitating forwarding of packets in hardware, the system for forwarding a packet received at the set of interfaces comprising:
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means for sending at least one of synchronized state information indicating states of ports associated with the set of interfaces and VLAN membership of the first router to the second router; means for observing the packet at the set of interfaces to obtain information from the packet; and means for updating the first and second sets of forwarding engine tables with the obtained information such that the packet is associated with at least one of the first router and the second router, thereby enabling the first router and the second router to forward a packet using the obtained information. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A computer-readable medium storing thereon computer-readable instructions for forwarding packets in a network, the network including a first router and a second router, the first router and the second router sharing a set of interfaces, comprising:
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instructions for sending synchronized state information indicating states of ports associated with the set of interfaces and VLAN membership information via the set of interfaces; and instructions for detecting a failure of the second router such that the first router forwards packets received at the set of interfaces in response to the detection of failure of the second router. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65)
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66. A computer-readable medium storing thereon computer-readable instructions for enabling a master router to forward packets received at a set of interfaces, comprising:
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instructions for maintaining a routing table; instructions for running a protocol; instructions for updating a database in the master router with updates, the updates including at least one of synchronized state information indicating states of ports associated with the set of interfaces and VLAN membership of the master router; and instructions for sending the updates to a slave router, thereby enabling the slave router to forward packets received at the set of interfaces using the updates received from the master router. - View Dependent Claims (67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
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72. A computer-readable medium storing thereon computer-readable instructions for enabling a slave router to forward packets received at a set of interfaces, comprising:
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instructions for maintaining a routing table; instructions for receiving updates from a master router running a protocol, the updates including at least one of synchronized state information indicating states of ports associated with the set of interfaces and VLAN membership of the master router; and instructions for updating a database with the updates received from the master router, thereby enabling the slave router to forward packets received at the set of interfaces upon failure of the master router. - View Dependent Claims (73, 74, 75, 76)
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77. A computer-readable medium storing thereon computer-readable instructions for implementing a switching system including a master router and a slave router having a shared set of interfaces, comprising:
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instructions for maintaining a first set of forwarding data for the master router and a second set of forwarding data for the slave router; instructions for sending forwarding data updates from the master router to the slave router; instructions for sending at least one of synchronized state information indicating states of ports associated with the set of interfaces and VLAN membership of the master router to the slave router; instructions for obtaining packet header data from the shared set of interfaces; and instructions for updating the second set of forwarding data with the forwarding data updates sent from the master router and the packet header data obtained from the shared set of interfaces. - View Dependent Claims (78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83)
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84. A computer-readable medium storing thereon computer-readable instructions for supporting a system including a first router and a second router having a shared set of interfaces, a first forwarding engine coupled to the set of interfaces and the first router, the first forwarding engine being associated with a first set of forwarding engine tables for facilitating forwarding of packets in hardware, and a second forwarding engine coupled to the set of interfaces and the second router, the second forwarding engine being associated with a second set of forwarding engine tables for facilitating forwarding of packets in hardware, the computer-readable medium storing thereon computer-readable instructions for forwarding a packet received at the set of interfaces, comprising:
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instructions for sending at least one of synchronized state information indicating states of ports associated with the set of interfaces and VLAN membership of the first router to the second router; instructions for observing the packet at the set of interfaces to obtain information from the packet; and instructions for updating the first and second sets of forwarding engine tables with the obtained information such that the packet is associated with at least one of the first router and the second router, thereby enabling the first router and the second router to forward a packet using the obtained information. - View Dependent Claims (85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90)
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Specification