Optimizing fabric path forwarding for virtual nodes within an electronic device

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a receiving virtual routing node of a single-chassis network device having a plurality of packet forwarding engines (PFEs) and a plurality of fabric links coupling respective pairs of the plurality of PFEs at respective fabric interfaces of the plurality of PFEs, a modified packet from a source virtual routing node, wherein the modified packet includes a fabric path header to request fabric path information associated with the egress PFE;
• determining, by the receiving virtual routing node, that the modified packet includes the header;
• retrieving, by the receiving virtual node and from forwarding information of the receiving virtual node, the fabric path information associated with the egress PFE;
• and
• sending, by the receiving virtual node, the fabric path information associated with the egress PFE to the path module instead of forwarding the modified packet to a next fabric hop.

A single-chassis network device comprising:

• a plurality of packet forwarding engines (PFEs);
• a plurality of fabric links coupling respective pairs of the plurality of PFEs at respective fabric interfaces of the plurality of PFEs;
• a first virtual routing node and a second virtual routing node of a plurality of virtual routing nodes, wherein the first virtual routing node is configured to:
• receive a packet;
• send a modified packet to a receiving PFE of the plurality of PFEs, wherein the modified packet includes a fabric path header added to the packet to request fabric path information associated with the egress PFE;
• receive the fabric path information associated with the egress PFE from the path module;
• store the fabric path information associated with the egress PFE in forwarding information of the first virtual routing node;
• and
• send a next packet directly to the egress PFE instead of load balancing the next packet.