US 12,250,148 B1 · Network device with port aggregation for forwarding network traffic

Abstract

In a network device, unidirectional port aggregation can be used by aggregating corresponding ports that represent a single underlay next hop. A common layer 2 address (e.g., Media Access Control (MAC) address) can be shared across aggregated destination network devices to allow these network devices to accept traffic forwarded over the unidirectional multi-destination bond port. Port aggregations (e.g., “bonds”, “trunks”, etc.) are controlled by dynamic route updates propagating through a network of devices. Dynamic route updates can be implemented as part of routing protocols. The route updates can be interpreted by the network switches as including a port aggregation signal. Policy may be applied to these route updates to adjust the behavior of the port aggregation mechanism. The resulting port aggregation is installed in the forwarding table of network devices so that the corresponding prefixes resolve to the underlay next hop representing the aggregated port.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A method of forwarding network traffic through a network device, comprising:

receiving one or more routing updates in the network device, wherein the one or more routing updates include multiple Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and an attribute associated with the multiple IP addresses indicating that the multiple IP addresses are to use aggregated ports on the network device;
matching the attribute to a policy statement used to generate a forwarding table;
generating the forwarding table using the policy statement, wherein the forwarding table is used to switch network traffic to ports in the network device based upon the IP addresses;
for the multiple IP addresses, using the forwarding table to point to an entry in a trunk table, wherein the trunk table aggregates the ports on the network device;
for packets received in the network device addressed to any of the multiple IP addresses, identifying an entry in an egress table that points to the entry in the trunk table;
using the entry in the trunk table to identify the ports;
and
switching packets addressed to the multiple IP addresses to the multiple ports using hashing logic.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Network device with port aggregation for forwarding network traffic

Life of this patent

Network device with port aggregation for forwarding network traffic

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19