Method and apparatus for implementing control of multiple physically dual homed devices
First Claim
1. A method of coupling at least one Ethernet switch unit comprising an Ethernet switch unit Media Access Control (MAC) address to a routing-protocol-controlled Ethernet network, the method comprising:
- dual homing the at least one Ethernet switch unit on a pair of gateways connected to the routing-protocol-controlled Ethernet network, the pair of gateways being connected by an inter-gateway trunk;
configuring the at least one Ethernet switch unit and the pair of gateways to implement a control plane logical ring linking the at least one Ethernet switch unit to the pair of gateways;
associating a common Media Access Control (MAC) address of the routing-protocol-controlled Ethernet network with each Ethernet switch unit linked to the pair of gateways via the control plane logical ring; and
representing, into the routing-protocol-controlled Ethernet network at one of the gateways using the common MAC address in lieu of the Ethernet switch unit MAC address, packets received from each Ethernet switch unit linked to the pair of gateways via the control plane logical ring.
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Abstract
A ring control protocol is used to establish a separate control plane for a plurality of physically dual homed devices to enable collections of dual homed devices to be represented by a single pair of addresses into the attached routed Ethernet network. The gateway devices analyze the passing ring control packets to create direct mappings for data packets to the routed Ethernet network. Thus, although the dual homed devices are treated as a ring from a control perspective, the data path is implemented to be direct so that data packets continue to flow directly from the dual homed devices to each of the attached gateway devices. In one embodiment, each of the gateway devices implements a virtual switch and advertises the MAC address of the virtual switch into the routed Ethernet network rather than the MAC addresses of each of the attached Ethernet Switch Units.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of coupling at least one Ethernet switch unit comprising an Ethernet switch unit Media Access Control (MAC) address to a routing-protocol-controlled Ethernet network, the method comprising:
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dual homing the at least one Ethernet switch unit on a pair of gateways connected to the routing-protocol-controlled Ethernet network, the pair of gateways being connected by an inter-gateway trunk; configuring the at least one Ethernet switch unit and the pair of gateways to implement a control plane logical ring linking the at least one Ethernet switch unit to the pair of gateways; associating a common Media Access Control (MAC) address of the routing-protocol-controlled Ethernet network with each Ethernet switch unit linked to the pair of gateways via the control plane logical ring; and representing, into the routing-protocol-controlled Ethernet network at one of the gateways using the common MAC address in lieu of the Ethernet switch unit MAC address, packets received from each Ethernet switch unit linked to the pair of gateways via the control plane logical ring. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification