Efficient TRILL forwarding

• US 9,112,817 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2014
• Issued: 08/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2011
• 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, Koganti, Phanidhar, Vobbilisetty, Suresh, Yu, Shunjia, Srivastava, Pankaj
• Primary Examiner(s): CHO, HONG SOL
• Application Number:
  US14/273,414
• Publication Number:
  US 20140241364A1
• Time in Patent Office: 467 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/745 Address table lookup; Address filtering

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes a storage and a lookup mechanism. The storage stores a first table that contains an entry corresponding to a media access control (MAC) address of a device and an identifier of a remote switch associated with the device. The storage also stores a second table that contains an entry indicating a local outgoing interface corresponding to the remote switch. The lookup mechanism identifies the local outgoing interface corresponding to the device based on the first table and the second table.

Claims

1. A switch for facilitating packet forwarding in a network of interconnected switches,

wherein the network comprises at least the switch and an egress switch, and wherein the egress switch is a virtual switch associated with a number of physical switches;

and

wherein the switch comprises a storage device storing;

a first data entry indicating a media access control (MAC) address of an end device and an identifier of the egress switch to which the end device is coupled;

a second data entry which is separate from the first data entry and which indicates an outgoing interface corresponding to the egress switch; and

a third data entry which maps an identifier of the virtual switch to one or more identifiers of the physical switches.

2. The switch of claim 1, wherein the first data entry is stored in a first data structure;

wherein the second data entry is stored in a second data structure; and

wherein the first data structure and the second data structure are separate from each other.

3. The switch of claim 1, wherein the first data includes a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier associated with the end device.

4. The switch of claim 1, further comprising an update module adapted to update the identifier of the outgoing interface corresponding to the egress switch in the second data entry, while the first data entry remains unchanged.

5. The switch of claim 1, wherein the second entry includes a second outgoing interface corresponding to the egress switch.

6. The switch of claim 1, wherein the network is formed based on an Internet Protocol (IP), Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS), or (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) TRILL protocol.

7. The switch of claim 1, further comprising a lookup module adapted to look up the first data entry to obtain the egress switch identifier based on the MAC address.

8. The switch of claim 1, further comprising a lookup module adapted to select one of the number of physical switches for forwarding a packet.

9. A method for facilitating packet forwarding in a network of interconnected switches,

wherein the network comprises at least a switch and an egress switch, and wherein the egress switch is a virtual switch associated with a number of physical switches;

and

wherein the method comprises;

storing in a storage device of the switch;

a first data entry indicating a media access control (MAC) address of an end device and an identifier of the egress switch to which the end device is coupled;

a second data entry which is separate from the first data entry and which indicates an outgoing interface corresponding to the egress switch; and

a third data entry which maps an identifier of the virtual switch to one or more identifiers of the physical switches.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first data entry is stored in a first data structure;

wherein the second data entry is stored in a second data structure; and

wherein the first data structure and the second data structure are separate from each other.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first data entry includes a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier associated with the end device.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising updating the identifier of the outgoing interface corresponding to the egress switch in the second data entry, while the first data entry remains unchanged.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the second entry includes a second outgoing interface corresponding to the egress switch.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the network is formed based on an Internet Protocol (IP), Muti-protocol Label Switching (MPLS), or (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) TRILL protocol.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising looking up the first data entry to obtain the egress switch identifier based on the MAC address.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising selecting one of the number of physical switches for forwarding a packet.

17. A storage device storing instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a method for facilitating packet forwarding in a network of interconnected switches,

wherein the network comprises at least a switch and an egress switch, and wherein the egress switch is a virtual switch associated with a number of physical switches;

and

wherein the method comprises;

storing in a storage device of the switch;

a first data entry indicating a media access control (MAC) address of an end device and an identifier of the egress switch to which the end device is coupled;

a second data entry which is separate from the first data entry and which indicates an outgoing interface corresponding to the egress switch; and

a third data entry which maps an identifier of the virtual switch to one or more identifiers of the physical switches.

18. The storage device of claim 17, wherein the first data entry is stored in a first data structure;

wherein the second data entry is stored in a second data structure; and

wherein the first data structure and the second data structure are separate from each other.

19. The storage device of claim 17, wherein the first data entry in the first data structure further includes a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier associated with the device.

20. The storage device of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises updating the identifier of the outgoing interface corresponding to the egress switch in the second data entry, while the first data entry remains unchanged.

21. The storage device of claim 17, wherein the second entry includes a second outgoing interface corresponding to the egress switch.

22. The storage device of claim 17, wherein the network is formed based on an Internet Protocol (IP), Muti-protocol Label Switching (MPLS), or (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) TRILL protocol.

23. The storage device of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises looking up the first data entry to obtain the egress switch identifier based on the MAC address.

24. The storage device of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises selecting one of the number of physical switches for forwarding a packet.