Multicast in a trill network

• US 9,407,533 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2012
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Venkatesan, Nagarajan, Ghanwani, Anoop, Yu, Shunjia, Koganti, Phanidhar, Krishnamurthy, Rajiv
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHAU, PETER P
• Application Number:
  US13/351,513
• Publication Number:
  US 20130003733A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,659 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1881 with schedule organisation, e.g. priority, sequence management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/16 Multipoint routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/66 Layer 2 routing, e.g. in Ethernet based MAN's

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. A switch includes a storage and a multicast management mechanism. The storage is configured to store an entry indicating a multicast group membership learned at a remote switch. The multicast management mechanism is coupled to the storage and is configured to suppress flooding of packets destined for the multicast group.

Claims

1. A switch, comprising:

one or more ports;

a storage configured to store a first multicast database, wherein a respective entry in the first multicast database includes membership information of a multicast group learned at a remote switch, and wherein the entry is associated with an identifier of the remote switch; and

a multicast management module configured to suppress flooding via the one or more ports a packet destined for a multicast group in response to identifying the membership information of the multicast group in an entry in the first multicast database;

wherein the switch and the remote switch are member switches of a network of interconnected switches, and wherein a media access control (MAC) address learned via one of the one or more ports is shared with the remote switch.

2. The switch of claim 1, wherein a respective entry in the first multicast database includes a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier.

3. The switch of claim 1, wherein an entry in the first multicast database is a non-flooding forwarding entry corresponding to the multicast group and the remote switch.

4. The switch of claim 1, wherein the switch and the remote switch participate in a link aggregation, and wherein at least one of the one or more ports participates in the link aggregation;

and

wherein the membership information of the multicast group learned at the remote switch is treated as membership information of a multicast group learned locally at the switch.

5. The switch of claim 1, further comprising a communication module configured to construct a notification message for the remote switch, wherein the notification message comprises membership information of a multicast group learned locally at the switch.

6. The switch of claim 1, wherein the multicast group is formed based on one or more of the following:

Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) version 1;

IGMP version 2;

IGMP version 3;

Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) version 1; and

MLD version 2.

7. The switch of claim 1, wherein the multicast management module is configured to perform Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) or Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) snooping.

8. The switch of claim 1, further comprising a communication module configured to construct a notification message for the remote switch in response to receiving a first join message or a last leave message of the multicast group from a locally coupled end device, wherein the notification message comprises state information of the multicast group.

9. A method, comprising:

storing a first multicast database in a storage in a switch, wherein a respective entry in the first multicast database includes membership information of a multicast group learned at a remote switch, wherein the entry is associated with an identifier of the remote switch, and wherein the switch includes one or more ports; and

suppressing flooding via the one or more ports a packet destined for a multicast group in response to identifying the membership information of the multicast group in an entry in the first multicast database;

wherein the switch and the remote switch are member switches of a network of interconnected switches, and wherein a media access control (MAC) address learned via one of the one or more ports is shared with the remote switch.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a respective entry in the first multicast database includes a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein an entry in the first multicast database is a non-flooding forwarding entry corresponding to the multicast group and the remote switch in a data structure.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising aggregating links coupled to the switch and the remote switch, wherein at least one of the one or more ports participates in aggregating the links;

and

treating the membership information of the multicast group learned at the remote switch as membership information of a multicast group learned locally at the switch.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising constructing a notification message for the remote switch, wherein the notification message comprises membership information of a multicast group learned locally at the switch.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the multicast group is formed based on one of more of the following:

Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) version 1;

IGMP version 2;

IGMP version 3;

Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) version 1; and

MLD version 2.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises performing Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) or Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) snooping.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising constructing a notification message for the remote switch in response to receiving a first join message or a last leave message of the multicast group from a locally coupled end device, wherein the notification message comprises state information associated with the multicast group.

17. A switching system, comprising a first switch and a second switch;

wherein the first switch comprises;

one or more ports;

a storage configured to store a first multicast database,

wherein a respective entry in the first multicast database includes membership information of a multicast group learned at the second switch, and wherein the entry is associated with an identifier of the second switch; and

a multicast management module configured to suppress flooding via the one or more ports a packet destined for a multicast group in response to identifying the membership information of the multicast group in an entry in the first multicast database;

wherein the switching system is a network of interconnected switches, and wherein a media access control (MAC) address learned via one of the one or more ports is shared with the second switch.

18. The switching system of claim 17, wherein a respective entry in the first multicast database includes a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier.

19. The switching system of claim 17, wherein an entry in the first multicast database is a non-flooding forwarding entry corresponding to the multicast group and the second switch.

20. The switching system of claim 17, wherein the first switch and the second switch participate in a link aggregation, and wherein at least one of the one or more ports participates in aggregating the links;

and

wherein the membership information of the multicast group learned at the second switch is treated by the first switch as membership information of a multicast group learned locally at the first switch.

21. The switching system of claim 17, wherein the first switch further comprises a communication module configured to construct a notification message for the second switch, wherein the notification message comprises membership information of a multicast group learned locally at the first switch.

22. The switching system of claim 17, wherein the multicast group is formed based on one or more of the following:

Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) version 1;

IGMP version 2;

IGMP version 3;

Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) version 1; and

MLD version 2.

23. The switching system of claim 17, wherein the multicast management module is configured to perform Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) or Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) snooping.

24. The switching system of claim 17, wherein the first switch further comprises a communication module configured to construct a notification message for the second switch in response to receiving a first join message or a last leave message of the multicast group from an end device coupled to the first switch, wherein the notification message comprises state information associated with the multicast group.