Clearing forwarding entries dynamically and ensuring consistency of tables across ethernet fabric switch

• US 8,879,549 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2012
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Raman, Mythilikanth, Manohar, Mary, Chen, Wei-Chiuan, Vegesana, Gangadhar, Venkatesh, Vardarajan, Shekarappa, Raju
• Primary Examiner(s): CHO, HONG SOL
• Application Number:
  US13/365,808
• Publication Number:
  US 20130003729A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,005 Days
• Field of Search: 370/389, 370/400, 370/401
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/54 Organization of routing tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/66 Layer 2 routing, e.g. in Ethernet based MAN's
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/604 Hybrid IP/Ethernet switches

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes an ownership management mechanism and a notification mechanism. The ownership management mechanism maintains a local ownership association between the switch, and a medium access control (MAC) address learned at the switch and terminates the local ownership association for the MAC address. The notification mechanism generates a first notification indicating the local ownership association and a second notification indicating the termination of the local ownership association.

Claims

1. A switch, comprising:

an ownership management module operable to;

maintain a local ownership association between the switch and a media access control (MAC) address learned at the switch;

terminate the local ownership association for the MAC address; and

terminate an ownership association for a MAC address learned at a remote switch, in response to identifying a corresponding notification from the remote switch; and

a notification module operable to;

generate a first notification indicating the local ownership association; and

generate a second notification indicating the termination of the local ownership association.

2. The switch of claim 1, wherein the second notification includes a first tier message indicating initiation of the termination and a second tier message indicating the termination of specific ownership association with the switch.

3. The switch of claim 1, wherein the switch is a Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) routing bridge (RBridge).

4. The switch of claim 1, wherein the ownership association is indicated by a bit in a bitmap, and wherein the bit is associated with the switch.

5. The switch of claim 1, wherein the switch is part of a link aggregation;

wherein the switch further comprises an age-out control module operable to create an age-out indication for the switch and a MAC address learned at the switch, in response to inactivity from the MAC address over a period of time; and

wherein the notification module is further operable to generate a third notification associated with the age-out indication.

6. The switch of claim 1, wherein the ownership module is further operable to terminate an ownership association for a MAC address learned at a remote switch in response to detecting a failure to the remote switch.

7. A switch, comprising:

an ownership management module operable to;

maintain a local ownership association between the switch and a medium access control (MAC) address learned at the switch; and

terminate the local ownership association for the MAC address;

a notification mechanism module operable to;

generate a first notification indicating the local ownership association; and

generate a second notification indicating the termination of the local ownership association; and

an age-out control module operable to;

create an age-out indication for the switch and a MAC address learned at the switch, in response to inactivity from the MAC address over a period of time; and

suppress local age-out notifications for the MAC address in response to creating the age-out indication.

8. The switch of claim 7, wherein the second notification includes a first tier message indicating initiation of the termination and a second tier message indicating the termination of specific ownership association with the switch.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the switch is a Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) routing bridge (RBridge).

9. A method, comprising:

maintaining a local ownership association between a switch and a media access control (MAC) address learned at the switch;

generating a first notification indicating the local ownership association;

terminating the local ownership association for the MAC address;

generating a second notification indicating the termination of the local ownership association; and

terminating an ownership association for a MAC address learned at a remote switch, in response to receiving a notification from the remote switch.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second notification includes a first tier message indicating initiation of the termination and a second tier message indicating the termination of specific ownership association with the switch.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the ownership association is indicated by a bit in a bitmap, and wherein the bit is associated with the switch.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the switch is part of a link aggregation;

and

further comprising;

creating an age-out indication for the switch and a MAC address learned at the switch, in response to inactivity from the MAC address over a period of time; and

generating a third notification associated with the age-out indication.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising terminating an ownership association for a MAC address learned at a remote switch in response to detecting a failure to the remote switch.

15. A method comprising:

maintaining a local ownership association between a switch and a media access control (MAC) address learned at the switch;

generating a first notification indicating the local ownership association;

terminating the local ownership association for the MAC address;

generating a second notification indicating the termination of the local ownership association;

creating an age-out indication for the switch and a MAC address learned at the switch, in response to inactivity from the MAC address over a period of time; and

suppressing local age-out notifications for the MAC address in response to creating the age-out indication.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the second notification includes a first tier message indicating initiation of the termination and a second tier message indicating the termination of specific ownership association with the switch.

17. A computing system, comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which when executed by the processor causes the processor to perform a method, the method comprising;

maintaining a local ownership association between the computing system and a media access control (MAC) address learned at the computing system;

generating a first notification indicating the local ownership association;

terminating the local ownership association for the MAC address;

generating a second notification indicating the termination of the local ownership association; and

terminating an ownership association for a MAC address learned at a remote computing system, in response to identifying a corresponding notification from the remote computing system.

18. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the second notification includes a first tier message indicating initiation of the termination and a second tier message indicating the termination of specific ownership association with the computing system.

19. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the computing system and the second computing system are Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) routing bridges (RBridges).

20. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the ownership association is indicated by a bit in a bitmap, and wherein the bit is associated with the computing system.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the computing system is part of a in aggregation;

wherein the method further comprises;

creating age-out indication for the computing system and a MAC address learned at the computing system, in response to inactivity from the MAC address over a period of time; and

generating a third notification associated with the age-out indication.

22. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises terminating an ownership association for a MAC address learned at a remote computing device in response to detecting a failure to the remote computing device.

23. A computing system, comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which when executed by the processor causes the processor to perform a method, the method comprising;

maintaining a local ownership association between the computing system and a media access control (MAC) address learned at the computing system;

generating a first notification indicating the local ownership association;

terminating the local ownership association for the MAC address;

generating a second notification indicating the termination of the local ownership association;

creating an age-out indication for the computing system and a MAC address learned at the computing system, in response to inactivity from the MAC address over a period of time; and

suppressing local age-out notifications for the MAC address in response to creating the age-out indication.

24. The computing system of claim 23, wherein the second notification includes a first tier message indicating initiation of the termination and a second tier message indicating the termination of specific ownership association with the computing system.