Method and system for implementing a high availability VLAN

A method for implementing a high availability VLAN, said method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a packet;
• analyzing the packet and classifying a port associated with the received packet as being a member of a first VLAN;
• re-analyzing the packet and performing one of the following steps:
• flooding copies of the packet to a first set of pre-selected port(s) which are members of the first VLAN if the packet contains a normal MAC destination address;
• or
• re-mapping a first VLAN_ID associated with the first VLAN to be a second VLAN_ID associated with a second VLAN and then flooding copies of the packet to a second set of pre-selected port(s) which are members of the second VLAN if the packet contains a special MAC destination address.

A bridged network, comprising:

• a first network node including a first CAM, a first processor and a first plurality of ports;
• and
• a second network node including a second CAM, a second processor and a second plurality of ports, wherein said first network node is connected to said second network node via an interswitch port, and wherein said first CAM/said first processor and said second CAM/said second processor each perform the following actions:
• analyze a packet received at one of their ports;
• classify the port which received the packet as being a member of a first VLAN;
• re-analyze the packet and perform one of the following actions:
• flood copies of the packet to a first set of pre-selected port(s) which are members of the first VLAN if the packet contains a normal MAC destination address;
• or
• re-map a first VLAN_ID associated with the first VLAN to be a second VLAN_ID associated with a second VLAN and then flood copies of the packet to a second set of pre-selected port(s) which are members of the second VLAN if the packet contains a special MAC destination address.