Multicast bandwidth multiplication for a unified distributed switch

A networking element for forwarding a multicast data frame, comprising:

• a first port that receives a multicast data frame, wherein the multicast data frame is an Ethernet frame;
• a first plurality of buffers, wherein at least a portion of the multicast data frame is stored in each buffer of the first plurality of buffers, wherein the portion of the multicast data frame is at least a portion of a payload of the Ethernet frame, and wherein at least one of the first plurality of buffers is assigned to a second input port of the networking element;
• a second plurality of buffers that store a header corresponding to each of the portions of the multicast data frame, wherein at least one of the second plurality of buffers is assigned to the second input port, wherein the networking element is configured to combine each of the portions of the first received multicast data frame with the corresponding header to generate data packets;
• and
• respective output connection interfaces configured to separately forward the data packets based on respective headers, wherein a first one of the output connection interfaces is assigned to the first input port and a second one of the output connection interfaces is assigned to the second input port, wherein the first input port borrows the at least one buffer of the first plurality of buffers, the at least one buffer of the second plurality of buffers, and the respective output connection interface assigned to the second input port.

A networking element for forwarding a multicast data frame, comprising:

• a first input port that receives the multicast data frame;
• a first plurality of buffers, wherein at least a portion of the multicast data frame is stored in each of the first plurality of buffers, wherein at least one of the first plurality of buffers is assigned to a second input port of the networking element;
• a second plurality of buffers that store a header corresponding to each of the portions of the multicast data frame, wherein at least one of the second plurality of buffers is assigned to the second input port;
• and
• respective output connection interfaces configured to separately forward each of a plurality of the portions of the received multicast data frame stored in the first plurality of buffers based on respective headers, wherein a first one of the output connection interfaces is assigned to the first input port and a second one of the output connection interfaces is assigned to the second input port, wherein the first input port borrows the at least one buffer of the first plurality of buffers, the at least one buffer of the second plurality of buffers, and the respective output connection interface assigned to the second input port,
• wherein, after forwarding the portions of the received multicast data frame, the networking element is configured to not evict at least one of the portions from the first plurality of buffers, wherein, after forwarding the portions:
• the networking element is configured to store a replacement header for one of the non-evicted portions in one of the second plurality of buffers, wherein the replacement header comprises a different destination that an original header that was previuously assigned to the one non-evicted portion;
• and
• the networking element is configured to forward the one non-evicted portion and the replacement header.