Forwarding table reduction and multipath network forwarding
First Claim
1. An apparatus, comprising:
- a processor; and
a memory, at least one of the processor or the memory being adapted for;
interfacing with a plurality of host devices, the plurality of host devices identified by Media Access Control (MAC) addresses; and
maintaining a first Remote MAC Table (RMT) that records a correspondence between MAC addresses of the host devices and hierarchical addresses of ports of a plurality of edge switches, wherein the apparatus is a first edge switch of the plurality of edges switches; and
populating a switch forwarding table (“
SFT”
) of the first edge switch with a switch address of every other active core switch and edge switch in a network, wherein data packets are transferred according to the hierarchical addresses.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Increased usage of network links is provided and smaller forwarding tables are required. A combination of STP and Multipath methods may be implemented in a network. Frames may be forwarded between switches not only according to MAC addresses, but also according to switch IDs and local IDs. Switch IDs do not need to be globally unique, but should be unique within a particular network. Local IDs need only be unique within a particular switch. Some preferred implementations allow frames to be delivered in order to devices requiring in-order delivery. Preferably, core switches need only learn the switch IDs of each core switch and each edge switch, and the appropriate exit port(s) corresponding to each switch. Preferably, the forwarding tables of each edge switch indicate the addresses of each device attached to that edge switch, the address of each device that is in communication with an attached device and the address of every other switch in the network.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus, comprising:
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a processor; and a memory, at least one of the processor or the memory being adapted for; interfacing with a plurality of host devices, the plurality of host devices identified by Media Access Control (MAC) addresses; and maintaining a first Remote MAC Table (RMT) that records a correspondence between MAC addresses of the host devices and hierarchical addresses of ports of a plurality of edge switches, wherein the apparatus is a first edge switch of the plurality of edges switches; and populating a switch forwarding table (“
SFT”
) of the first edge switch with a switch address of every other active core switch and edge switch in a network, wherein data packets are transferred according to the hierarchical addresses. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus, comprising:
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a processor; and a memory, at least one of the processor or the memory being adapted for; interfacing with a plurality of host devices, the plurality of host devices identified by Media Access Control (MAC) addresses; and maintaining a first Remote MAC Table (RMT) that records a correspondence between MAC addresses of the host devices and hierarchical addresses of ports of a plurality of edge switches, wherein the apparatus is a first edge switch of the plurality of edges switches; receiving a frame from a first host device via a first port of the first edge switch; determining whether a destination MAC address indicated in the frame is included in the first remote MAC table; encapsulating the frame with the first port'"'"'s hierarchical address to create an encapsulated frame; and flooding the encapsulated frame using a spanning tree protocol (“
STP”
) according to whether it is determined that the destination MAC address indicated in the frame is included in the first remote MAC table. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. An apparatus, comprising:
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means for interfacing with a plurality of host devices, the plurality of host devices identified by Media Access Control (MAC) addresses; and means for maintaining a first Remote MAC Table (RMT) that records a correspondence between MAC addresses of the host devices and hierarchical addresses of ports of a plurality of edge switches, wherein the apparatus is a first edge switch of the plurality of edges switches; means for receiving a frame from a first host device via a first port of the first edge switch; means for determining whether a destination MAC address indicated in the frame is included in the first remote MAC table; and means for obtaining a hierarchical address corresponding to the destination address from the first remote MAC table and sending the frame to the hierarchical address if it is determined that the destination MAC address indicated in the frame is included in the first remote MAC table, the hierarchical address identifying a port of an edge switch of the network. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A method, comprising:
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maintaining a first Remote Media Access Control (MAC) Table that records a correspondence between MAC addresses of a plurality of host devices and hierarchical addresses of ports of a plurality of edge switches, wherein the apparatus is a first edge switch of the plurality of edges switches; receiving a frame from a first host device via a first port of the first edge switch; determining whether a destination MAC address indicated in the frame is included in the first remote MAC table; encapsulating the frame with the first port'"'"'s hierarchical address to create an encapsulated frame; and flooding the encapsulated frame using a spanning tree protocol (“
STP”
) according to whether it is determined that the destination MAC address indicated in the frame is included in the first remote MAC table.
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Specification