Methods and apparatus related to a distributed switch fabric
AssigneeJuniper Networks, Inc.
InventorGunes Aybay
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of sending data to a switch fabric includes assigning a destination port of an output module to a data packet based on at least one field in a first header of the data packet. A module associated with a first stage of the switch fabric is selected based on at least one field in the first header. A second header is appended to the data packet. The second header includes an identifier associated with the destination port of the output module. The data packet is sent to the module associated with the first stage. The module associated with the first stage is configured to send the data packet to a module associated with a second stage of the switch fabric based on the second header.
Claims19
A method, comprising:
- receiving a first data packet from a first peripheral device including a first data packet header specifying a destination;
- appending, at a first edge device, a destination identifier to the first data packet based on the first data packet header to define a first appended data packet, the destination identifier associated with a destination port of a second edge device;
- sending the first appended data packet to a module associated with a first stage of a switch fabric based on the first data packet header such that the module associated with the first stage of the switch fabric sends the first appended data packet to a module associated with the second stage of the switch fabric based on the destination identifier, the module associated with the first stage of the switch fabric being from a plurality of modules associated with the first stage of the switch fabric, the module associated with the second stage of the switch fabric being from a plurality of modules associated with the second stage of the switch fabric;
- receiving a second data packet including a second data packet header specifying the destination;
- and
- appending, at the first edge device, the destination identifier to the second data packet based on the second data packet header to define a second appended data packet.
A non-transitory processor readable medium storing code representing instructions to be executed by a processor, the code comprising code to cause the processor to:
- receive, from an edge device, a first data packet including a first header and a second header, the second header having been appended to the first data packet by the edge device based on the first header;
- send the first data packet to a module associated with a stage of a switch fabric based on the second header such that the first data packet is routed to a peripheral device, at least a portion of a route to the peripheral device after the stage of the switch fabric determined based on the second header, the module associated with the stage of the switch fabric being from a plurality of modules associated with the stage of the switch fabric;
- and
- receive, from the edge device, a second data packet including a third header and a fourth header, the fourth header, having been appended to the second data packet b the edge device based on the third header such that the second data packet is routed to the peripheral device via the module, associated with the stage of the switch fabric and the portion of the route after the stage of the switch fabric.
A method, comprising:
- assigning a destination port of an output module to a first data packet based on at least one field in a first header of the first data packet;
- selecting a module associated with a first stage of a switch fabric based on at least one field in the first header, the module associated with the first stage being from a plurality of modules associated with the first stage;
- appending a second header to the first data packet to define a first appended data packet, the second header including an identifier associated with the destination port of the output module;
- sending the first appended data packet to the module associated with the first stage, the module associated with the first stage configured to send the first appended data packet to a module associated with a second stage of the switch fabric based on the second header, the module associated with the second stage being from a plurality of modules associated with the second stage;
- appending the second header to a second data packet to define a second appended data packet based on a first header of the second data packet having t e at least one field of the first header of the first data packet, and such the second appended data packet is routed to the module associated with the second stage of the switch fabric.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.