Spanning tree in fabric switches

• US 9,565,099 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2014
• Issued: 02/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Venkata, Ganesh D., Gupta, Amit, Thayalan, Prabu, Venkatesh, Vardarajan, Raman, Mythilikanth, Muthiah, Selvam
• Primary Examiner(s): Sweet, Lonnie
• Application Number:
  US14/192,751
• Publication Number:
  US 20140247754A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,076 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/462 LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/48 Routing tree calculation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes a packet processor and a spanning tree management module. The packet processor obtains information associated with a spanning tree from a message. The spanning tree management module, in response to the obtained information being superior to locally available information of the spanning tree, determines the port role of a local port of the switch for the spanning tree to be the root port and the port state of the local port for the spanning tree to be blocking.

Claims

1. A switch, comprising:

a packet processor configured to obtain information associated with a spanning tree from a notification message, wherein the switch participates in the spanning tree, and the obtained information includes a path cost to a root of the spanning tree; and

spanning tree management circuitry configured to;

determine whether the path cost in the obtained information is superior to a locally available path cost to the root;

in response to determining that the path cost in the obtained information is superior to the locally available path cost,

set a port role of a first port of the switch to be a root port and a port state of the first port to be blocking for the spanning tree.

2. The switch of claim 1, further comprising notification circuitry configured to generate a notification message for a remote switch comprising the obtained information.

3. The switch of claim 1, wherein the spanning tree management circuitry is further configured to change the port state of the first port for the spanning tree to be forwarding in response to identifying an approval from a remote switch.

4. The switch of claim 1, wherein the spanning tree management circuitry is further configured to re-set the port role of the first port for the spanning tree in response to obtaining superior path cost to the root of the spanning tree from a notification message from a remote switch, wherein the notification message is distinct from a control message of the spanning tree.

5. The switch of claim 1, wherein the spanning tree management circuitry is further configured to:

store information of the spanning tree associated with the switch in a first entry of a local node root priority table; and

store information of the spanning tree associated with a remote switch in a second entry of the local node root priority table.

6. The switch of claim 1, further comprising fabric switch management circuitry configured to maintain a membership in a network of interconnected switches;

and

wherein the spanning tree management circuitry is further configured to represent the network of interconnected switches as a single switch in the spanning tree.

7. The switch of claim 6, further comprising port management circuitry configured to assign a port identifier to the first port, wherein the port identifier is unique among edge ports of the network of interconnected switches;

and

wherein the spanning tree management circuitry is further configured to use the port identifier to participate in the spanning tree, thereby facilitating the first port to appear as a port of the single switch in the spanning tree.

8. The switch of claim 7, wherein the port management circuitry is further configured to:

store the port identifier in an entry of a port identifier allocation table of the switch; and

mark the entry as stale in response to a status update event occurring for the switch; and

wherein other member switches of the network of interconnected switches are precluded from assigning the stale entry to an edge port.

9. The switch of claim 8, wherein the port management circuitry is further configured to reassign the port identifier to the first port in response to an ending of an effect of the status update event.

10. The switch of claim 8, wherein the port management circuitry is further configured to reassign the port identifier of the stale entry to a second port in response to reaching a limit of a number of port identifiers and the stale entry meeting one or more reallocation criteria.

11. The switch of claim 10, wherein the reallocation criteria include:

an age of a stale entry; and

an indication whether an entry is stale due to a configured event or a learned event.

12. The switch of claim 8, wherein the port management circuitry is further configured to preclude a second port of the switch from participating in a spanning tree in response to reaching a limit of a number of port identifiers and an unavailability of a stale entry in the port identifier allocation table.

13. The switch of claim 6, wherein the fabric switch management circuitry is further configured to determine a first switch identifier identifying the network of interconnected switches, wherein the first switch identifier is distinct from a second switch identifier identifying a second network of interconnected switches, and wherein the distinction between the first and the second switch identifiers is based on a random number or a configured number.

14. The switch of claim 1, further comprising link aggregation circuitry configured to:

operate the first port in conjunction with a third port of a remote switch as a single logical port of a virtual link aggregation; and

select a master switch between the switch and the remote switch, wherein the master switch includes a selected port between the first port and the third port, and wherein the selected port actively participates in the spanning tree as representative of the logical port.

15. The switch of claim 14, wherein the link aggregation circuitry is further configured to select the master switch based on whether a switch has received the most recent control message of the spanning tree.

16. The switch of claim 15, wherein the link aggregation circuitry is configured to select the master switch further based on whether a first identifier associated with the switch and the remote switch is inferior to a second identifier, wherein the first identifier is associated with a first network of interconnected switches and the second identifier is associated with a second network of interconnected switches.

17. A computer-executed method, comprising:

obtaining, by a switch, information associated with a spanning tree from a notification message, wherein the switch participates in the spanning tree, and the obtained information includes a path cost to a root of the spanning tree;

determining whether the path cost in the obtained information is superior to a locally available path cost to the root; and

in response to determining that the path cost in the obtained information is superior to the locally available path cost,

setting a port role of a first port of the switch to be a root port and a port state of the first port to be blocking for the spanning tree.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising generating a notification message for a remote switch comprising the obtained information.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising changing the port state of the first port for the spanning tree to be forwarding in response to identifying an approval from a remote switch.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising re-setting the port role of the first port for the spanning tree in response to obtaining superior path cost to the root of the spanning tree from a notification message from a remote switch, wherein the notification message is distinct from a control message of the spanning tree.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

storing information of the spanning tree associated with the switch in a first entry of a local node root priority table; and

store information of the spanning tree associated with a remote switch in a second entry of the local node root priority table.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

maintaining a membership in a network of interconnected switches; and

representing the network of interconnected switches as a single switch in the spanning tree.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

assigning a port identifier to the first port, wherein the port identifier is unique among edge ports of the network of interconnected switches; and

using the port identifier to participate in the spanning tree, thereby facilitating the first port to appear as a port of the single switch in the spanning tree.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

storing the port identifier in an entry of a port identifier allocation table of the switch; and

marking the entry as stale in response to a status update event occurring for the switch;

wherein other member switches of the network of interconnected switches are precluded from assigning the stale entry to an edge port.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising reassigning the port identifier to the first port in response to an ending of an effect of the status update event.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising reassigning the port identifier of the stale entry to a second port in response to reaching a limit of a number of port identifiers and the stale entry meeting one or more reallocation criteria.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the reallocation criteria include:

an age of a stale entry; and

an indication whether an entry is stale due to a configured event or a learned event.

28. The method of claim 24, further comprising precluding a second port of the switch from participating in a spanning tree in response to reaching a limit of a number of port identifiers and an unavailability of a stale entry in the port identifier allocation table.

29. The method of claim 22, further comprising determining a first switch identifier identifying the network of interconnected switches, wherein the first switch identifier is distinct from a second switch identifier identifying a second network of interconnected switches, and wherein the distinction between the first and the second switch identifiers is based on a random number or a configured number.

30. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

operating the first port in conjunction with a third port of a remote switch as a single logical port of a virtual link aggregation; and

selecting a master switch between the switch and the remote switch, wherein the master switch includes a selected port between the first port and the third port, and wherein the selected port actively participates in the spanning tree as representative of the logical port.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising selecting the master switch based on whether a switch has received the most recent control message of the spanning tree.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising selecting the master switch further based on whether a first identifier associated with the switch and the remote switch is inferior to a second identifier, wherein the first identifier is associated with a first network of interconnected switches and the second identifier is associated with a second network of interconnected switches.

33. A computer system, comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device coupled to the processor and storing instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising;

obtaining information associated with a spanning tree from a notification message, wherein the computer system participates in the spanning tree, and the obtained information includes a path cost to a root of the spanning tree;

determining whether the path cost in the obtained information is superior to a locally available path cost to the root; and

in response to determining that the path cost in the obtained information is superior to the locally available path cost,

setting a port role of a first port of the computer system to be a root port and a port state of the first port to be blocking for the spanning tree.