US 12,739,202 B2Granted

Providing dual-homed, active-active devices on network fabrics

AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.

InventorsRaja Janardanan, Sanjay Kumar Hooda, Prakash C. Jain, Ganesh Sankaranarayanan

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Abstract

Techniques for edge nodes of a network fabric to identify L2 broadcast messages that have been looped through connections with dual-homed, active-active endpoints. The edge nodes receive an L2 broadcast message from the network fabric, and store a source MAC address of the message in a local map-cache. The edge devices then forward the L2 broadcast message to the endpoint. The edge nodes may receive the messages that have been looped through the connections with the endpoint, and compare the source MAC address of the messages with the source MAC addresses stored in the local map-cache. If the source MAC address of the message matches to an address in the local map-cache, the edge nodes drop the message. However, if the source MAC address does not match to an address in the local map-cache, the edge nodes add the source MAC address to a source MAC address table.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A first edge node of a network fabric, the first edge node comprising:

one or more processors;
and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving a first Layer-2 (L2) broadcast message from a second edge node and over the network fabric, the first L2 broadcast message originating at an endpoint that is connected to the second edge node;
identifying, from the first L2 broadcast message, a first source media access control (MAC) address of the endpoint;
storing the first source MAC address of the first L2 broadcast message in a local cache of the first edge node;
forwarding the first L2 broadcast message to an L2 device connected to the first edge node, wherein the L2 device is configured to access the network fabric via the first edge node and a third edge node;
receiving a second L2 broadcast message from the L2 device;
identifying, from the second L2 broadcast message, a second source MAC address and a destination MAC address that is a broadcast address;
determining whether the second source MAC address corresponds to the first source MAC address stored in the local cache;
in response to determining that the second source MAC address corresponds to the first source MAC address;
dropping the second L2 broadcast message;
querying a control-plane of the network fabric to determine whether the endpoint is registered to another edge node of the network fabric;
receiving, from the control-plane, an indication that the endpoint is not registered to another edge node of the network fabric;
and
in response to receiving the indication that the second source MAC is not registered to another edge node of the network fabric, adding the second source MAC address to a source MAC address table corresponding to the L2 device.

13 more elements

A computer-implemented method performed by a first edge node of a network fabric, the method comprising:

receiving a first Layer-2 (L2) broadcast message from a second edge node and over the network fabric, the first L2 broadcast message originating at an endpoint that is connected to the second edge node;
identifying, from the first L2 broadcast message, a first source media access control (MAC) address of the endpoint;
storing the first source MAC address of the first L2 broadcast message in a local cache of the first edge node;
forwarding the first L2 broadcast message to an L2 device connected to the first edge node, wherein the L2 device is configured to access the network fabric via the first edge node and a third edge node;
receiving a second L2 broadcast message from the L2 device;
identifying, from the second L2 broadcast message, a second source MAC address and a destination MAC address that is a broadcast address;
determining whether the second source MAC address corresponds to the first source MAC address stored in the local cache;
in response to determining that the second source MAC address corresponds to the first source MAC address, dropping the second L2 broadcast message;
and
in response to determining that the second source MAC address corresponds to the first source MAC address, refraining from adding the second source MAC address to a source MAC address table.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 18/440,791Filed 13 Feb 2024
Published: US 2025/0260645 A114 Aug 2025
Granted: 15 Sep 2026
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

H04L 45/745
Address processing for routing: address table lookup; Address filtering
H04L 12/18
Arrangements for providing special services to substations: for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
H04L 45/66
Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks: layer 2 routing, e.g. in Ethernet based MAN's
H04L 61/103
Of different types: across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP]