Packet forwarding

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9397942-B2
Application number	US-201314405367-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 2, 2013
Priority date	Aug 31, 2012
Publication date	Jul 19, 2016
Grant date	Jul 19, 2016

Abstract

According to an example, to forward a packet, an access layer device searches a Layer 2 forwarding table according to a source Media Access Control (MAC) address of the packet, and replaces the source MAC address with a mapped virtual MAC address in a matching Layer 2 forwarding entry. The Layer 2 forwarding table is searched according to a destination MAC address of the Ethernet packet. In response to determining that a Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address of the Ethernet packet does not include a MAC address mapped to the destination MAC address, Very Large Layer 2 (VLL2) network protocol encapsulation is performed on the Ethernet packet of which the source MAC address is replaced according to an egress port in the Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address; and the Ethernet packet encapsulated with a VLL2 network protocol header is sent via the egress port.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for forwarding a packet, comprising:
receiving an Ethernet packet;
searching Layer 2 forwarding entries in a Layer 2 forwarding table according to a source Media Access Control (MAC) address of the Ethernet packet;
replacing the source MAC address of the Ethernet packet with a mapped virtual MAC address obtained from a Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the source MAC address of the Ethernet packet;
searching in the Layer 2 forwarding table according to a destination MAC address of the Ethernet packet received,
in response to determining that a Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address of the Ethernet packet does not include a MAC address mapped to the destination MAC address, performing Very Large Layer 2(VLL2) network protocol encapsulation on the Ethernet packet according to an egress port in the Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address, and sending the Ethernet packet encapsulated with a VLL2 network protocol header via the egress port.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address is an access device entry associated with another access layer device in a same data center, and the encapsulating of the Ethernet packet of which the source MAC address is replaced comprises determining egress port information including an egress port in the access device entry associated with the another access layer device in the same data center; encapsulating the Ethernet packet of which the source MAC address is replaced based on the egress port in the egress port information;
the sending of the encapsulated Ethernet packet comprises sending the encapsulated Ethernet packet to the another access layer device via the egress port in the egress port information.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address is a data center entry associated with another data center, and the encapsulating of the Ethernet packet of which the source MAC address is replaced comprises determining an egress port from the data center entry, and encapsulating the Ethernet packet of which the source MAC address is replaced based on the egress port determined from the data center entry, and
the sending of the encapsulated Ethernet packet comprises sending the encapsulated Ethernet packet via the egress port determined from the data center entry.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address is a gateway forwarding entry, and the encapsulating of the Ethernet packet of which the source MAC address is replaced comprises determining an egress port from the gateway forwarding entry, and encapsulating the Ethernet packet of which the source MAC address is replaced based on the egress port determined from the gateway forwarding entry; and
the sending of the encapsulated Ethernet packet comprises sending the encapsulated Ethernet packet via the egress port determined from the gateway forwarding entry.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the Ethernet packet is a multicast packet, the Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address is a multicast forwarding entry, and an egress port of the multicast forwarding entry comprises an egress port towards a root of a multicast tree of a multicast group, and the encapsulating of the Ethernet packet of which the source MAC address is replaced comprises determining the egress port towards the root of the multicast tree from the multicast forwarding entry; encapsulating the Ethernet packet of which the source MAC address is replaced based on the egress port determined from the multicast forwarding entry; and
the sending of the encapsulated Ethernet packet comprises sending the encapsulated Ethernet packet via the egress port determined from the multicast forwarding entry.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the Ethernet packet is a multicast packet, the Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address is a multicast forwarding entry, and an egress port of the multicast forwarding entry comprises an egress port towards a multicast receiver, the method further comprising:
sending to the multicast receiver the multicast packet of which the source MAC address is replaced through the egress port in the multicast forwarding entry and towards the multicast receiver.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to determining that the Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address of the Ethernet packet comprises a mapped actual MAC address, replacing the destination MAC address of the Ethernet packet with the mapped actual MAC address, and sending the Ethernet packet of which the source MAC address and the destination MAC address are replaced through the egress port in the Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an Ethernet packet encapsulated with the VLL2 network protocol;
decapsulating VLL2 network protocol encapsulation when it is determined, according to the VLL2 network protocol encapsulation of the Ethernet packet encapsulated with the VLL2 network protocol, that a device receiving the Ethernet packet encapsulated with the VLL2 network protocol is a destination device of the Ethernet packet encapsulated with the VLL2 network protocol;
searching in the Layer 2 forwarding table according to a destination MAC address of the decapsulated Ethernet packet; and
in response to determining that a Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address of the decapsulated Ethernet packet comprises a mapped actual MAC address, replacing the destination MAC address of the decapsulated Ethernet packet with the mapped actual MAC address in the Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address of the decapsulated Ethernet packet, and sending the decapsulated Ethernet packet of which the destination MAC address is replaced through an egress port in the Layer 2 forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address of the decapsulated Ethernet packet.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) request packet;
transferring the ARP request packet received into a proprietary ARP request packet;
searching in the Layer 2 forwarding table according to a source MAC address and a destination MAC address of the proprietary ARP request packet; and
in response to determining that a gateway forwarding entry matches the destination MAC address of the proprietary ARP request packet, performing the VLL2 network protocol encapsulation to the proprietary ARP request packet according to an egress port in the gateway forwarding entry matching the destination MAC address of the proprietary ARP request packet, and sending the proprietary ARP request packet encapsulated with the VLL2 network protocol towards the gateway.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the VLL 2 network protocol is a Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (Trill) protocol or a Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) protocol.

11. A routing switch device, comprising:
a first storage, to store machine readable instructions;
a second storage, to store a Layer 2 forwarding table; and
a processor, to execute the machine readable instructions to perform operations to forward packets, the operations comprising:
receiving an Ethernet packet;
searching Layer 2 forwarding entries in a Layer 2 forwarding table according to a source Media Access Control (MAC) address of the Ethernet packet;
replacing the source MAC address of the Ethernet packet with a mapped virtual MAC address obtained from a Layer 2 forwardi

Assignees

• Hangzhou H3C Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Song Yubing

Classifications

• H04L45/745 Primary

  Address table lookup; Address filtering · CPC title

• H04L12/4633 Primary

  Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling · CPC title

• H04L12/1485

  Tariff-related aspects · CPC title

• H04L61/103

  across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP] · CPC title

• H04L12/1886

  with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains · CPC title