Method and system of frame forwarding with link aggregation in distributed ethernet bridges

A system for forwarding a packet, comprising:

• a controlling bridge;
• a first port extender directly or indirectly coupled to a first interface of the controlling bridge;
• a second port extender directly or indirectly coupled to a second interface of the controlling bridge;
• an interface configuration module configured to associate a first port extender interface of the first port extender with a global namespace or an interface-specific namespace;
• a packet receiving module configured to receive a packet through the first port extender interface;
• a packet namespace marking module configured to mark the packet with an address and an indication of the namespace associated with the first port extender interface;
• and
• a packet processing module configured to process the address of the marked packet in the controlling bridge based at least in part upon the indication of the namespace associated with the first port extender interface.

A computer readable storage medium storing instructions wherein said instructions, when executed by a processor, are adapted to perform packet forwarding through a distributed switch wherein the distributed switch includes a first port extender and a second port extender directly or indirectly communicatively coupled to respectively a first interface and a second interface of a controlling bridge, the packet forwarding performed with a method comprising:

• associating a first port extender interface of the first port extender with a global namespace or an interface-specific namespace;
• receiving a packet through the first port extender interface;
• marking the received packet with an address and an indication of the namespace associated with the first port extender interface;
• processing the address of the marked packet in the controlling bridge based at least in part upon the indication of the namespace associated with the first port extender interface;
• and
• transmitting the processed packet out of the controlling bridge.