Distributed switch with conversational learning

A method comprising:

• receiving, on a port of a first forwarding instance circuit, a first packet from a source;
• updating, with the first forwarding instance circuit, an associated first table with first information that correlates the source with the port;
• in response to updating the associated first table, determining, with the first forwarding instance circuit, to send a second packet to at least one second forwarding instance circuit comprising at least one peer port of the port and to not send the second packet to at least one third forwarding instance circuit that does not comprise the at least one peer port of the port, wherein the second packet comprises first information identifying a correlation between the source and the port and second information indicating to the at least one second forwarding instance circuit to update one or more associated second tables with the correlation between the source and the port;
• sending, with the first forwarding instance circuit, the second packet to the at least one second forwarding instance circuit comprising the at least one peer port;
• sending, with the first forwarding instance circuit, the first packet to one of the at least one third forwarding instance circuit, wherein the one of the at least one third forwarding instance circuit comprises a non-peer port of the port;
• receiving, with the one of the at least one third forwarding instance circuit, the first packet from the first forwarding instance circuit;
• and
• determining, with the one of the at least one third forwarding instance circuit, that the non-peer port is associated with a destination and, in response thereto, updating, with the one of the at least one third forwarding instance circuit, an associated third table with the first information correlating the source with the port;
• and in response to updating the associated third table, sending, with the one of the at least one third forwarding instance circuit, a third packet to a fourth forwarding instance circuit, wherein the fourth forwarding instance circuit comprises a second peer port of the non-peer port.

One or more non-transitory computer readable tangible storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions, wherein the computer executable instructions comprises:

• instructions executable by a first forwarding instance circuit to receive, on a port of the first forwarding instance circuit, a first packet from a source;
• instructions executable by the first forwarding instance circuit to update an associated first table with first information that identifies a correlation between the source and the port;
• in response to update of the associated first table, instructions executable by the first forwarding instance circuit to determine to send a second packet to at least one second forwarding instance circuit comprising at least one peer port that includes at least one first peer port and to not send the second packet to at least one third forwarding instance circuit that does not comprise the at least one peer port, wherein the second packet comprises the first information identifying the correlation between the source and the port and second information indicating to the at least one second forwarding instance circuit to update one or more associated second tables with the correlation between the source and the port;
• instructions executable by the first forwarding instance circuit to send the first packet to one of the at least one third forwarding instance circuit comprising a non-peer port of the port;
• instructions executable by the one of the at least one third forwarding instance circuit to receive the first packet from the first forwarding instance circuit;
• instructions executable by the one of the at least one third forwarding instance circuit to determine that the non-peer port is associated with a destination;
• in response to the determination that the non-peer port is associated with the destination, instructions executable by the one of the at least one third forwarding instance circuit to update an associated third table with the correlation between the source and the port;
• and
• in response to the update of the associated third table, instructions executable by the one of the at least one third forwarding instance circuit to send a third packet to a fourth forwarding instance circuit, wherein the fourth forwarding instance circuit comprises a second peer port of the non-peer port.