Virtual Trunking Over Physical Links
AssigneeBroadcom Corporation
InventorsBiju Babu, Mohan Kalkunte
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A technique in which at least one controlling bridge controls data traffic among devices located lower in hierarchy below the controlling bridge. Those devices include a plurality of porting devices, such as line modules and port extenders, which ultimately communicate with an end point device, referred to as a station. At least two physical pathways from a controlling bridge to a station are grouped together into a virtual trunk to provide multiple physical pathways for packet transfer when operating in a dual-homed mode.
Claims20
A system comprising:
- at least one controlling bridge;
- a plurality of porting devices coupled to the at least one controlling bridge, in which the at least one controlling bridge and the plurality of porting devices are configured in an hierarchical arrangement with the plurality of porting devices lower in the hierarchical arrangement than the at least one controlling bridge;
- and
- a plurality of endpoint devices coupled to the plurality of porting devices in the hierarchical arrangement to transfer data within the system, in which one endpoint device of the plurality of endpoint devices is configured to have a plurality of different physical paths to the at least one controlling bridge and in which the different physical paths are grouped together into a virtual trunk, wherein the at least one controlling bridge identifies the virtual trunk when transmitting the data from the at least one controlling bridge to the one endpoint device and selects one of the different physical paths to the one endpoint device to transfer the data to the one endpoint device.
An apparatus to operate as a bridging device comprising:
- at least one data interface to couple to a plurality of porting devices, in which the apparatus and the plurality of porting devices are configured in an hierarchical arrangement with the plurality of porting devices lower in the hierarchical arrangement than the apparatus, and a plurality of endpoint devices coupled to the plurality of porting devices in the hierarchical arrangement to transfer data from the apparatus to one endpoint device of the plurality of endpoint devices;
- and
- a controller coupled to the at least one data interface, wherein the controller is operable to configure a virtual trunk to have a plurality of different physical paths from the at least one data interface to the one endpoint device and to select one of the different physical paths to the one endpoint device to transfer the data to the one endpoint device.
A method comprising:
- configuring a bridge controller to operate with a plurality of porting devices that are coupled to the bridge controller, in which the bridge controller and the plurality of porting devices are configured in an hierarchical arrangement with the plurality of porting devices lower in the hierarchical arrangement than the bridge controller, and a plurality of endpoint devices coupled to the plurality of porting devices in the hierarchical arrangement to transfer data from the bridge controller to one endpoint device of the plurality of endpoint devices;
- and
- configuring a virtual trunk to have a plurality of different physical paths from the bridge controller to the one endpoint device and to select one of the different physical paths to the one endpoint device to transfer the data to the one endpoint device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.