Ethernet connection-based forwarding process

In an Ethernet network, a connection-based forwarding system comprising:

• means for configuring in a plurality of network nodes, mappings for use in forwarding data frames, the mappings being from a plurality of triples comprising a plurality of incoming ports, a plurality of destination MAC addresses corresponding to a plurality of destination nodes of the network, and a plurality of source MAC addresses corresponding to a plurality of source nodes of the network, the mappings being to a plurality of selected output ports associated with the plurality of network nodes;
• and, means for establishing at least one connection between at least one of the plurality of source nodes and at least one of the plurality of destination nodes of the network.

In an Ethernet network, a connection-based forwarding method performed by a machine executing a program of instructions tangibly embodied in a program storage device readable by the machine, the method comprising the steps of:

• configuring in a plurality of network nodes, mappings for use in forwarding data frames, the mappings being from a plurality of triples comprising a plurality of incoming ports, a plurality of destination MAC addresses corresponding to a plurality of destination nodes of the network, and a plurality of source MAC addresses corresponding to a plurality of source nodes of the network, the mappings being to a plurality of selected output ports associated with the plurality of network nodes;
• and, establishing at least one connection between at least one of the plurality of source nodes and at least one of the plurality of destination nodes of the network, wherein the at least one connection can alternatively be split, merged with another connection, and separated from another connection at intermediate nodes en-route to the at least one of the plurality of destination nodes.

In a frame-based network, a connection-based forwarding method comprising:

• establishing a first and second connections having a same destination MAC address, a same VLAN ID, and passing through a common switching node of the network;
• and, configuring the switching node to forward data frames of the connections differently based on a triple, the triple comprising an incoming port, a destination MAC address, and a source MAC address, wherein data traffic engineering is enabled.