Method and apparatus for data packet switching, access switch and switching system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9774932-B2
Application number	US-201514981367-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2015
Priority date	Jun 28, 2013
Publication date	Sep 26, 2017
Grant date	Sep 26, 2017

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for data packet switching, and an access switch and a switching system, so as to satisfy requirements of a datacenter for a switching bandwidth and a switching granularity. The method includes: receiving MAC frame control information; determining an interface used for forwarding an MAC frame according to the MAC frame control information and through performing a query on a MAC address forwarding table, where the interface used for forwarding the MAC frame includes a downlink interface, an uplink electrical packet switching network interface and/or an uplink optical packet switching network interface; transmitting a control signal to an electrical packet switching unit, so that the MAC frame is forwarded to the determined interface. According to the method provided in the present invention, the utilization rate of each interface can be improved.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for data packet switching, comprising:
receiving, by a controller in an access switch, Media Access Control Address (MAC) frame control information, wherein the MAC frame control information comprises one or any combination of a destination MAC address, a virtual local area network identifier and frame protocol type information;
making, by the controller, judgments according to the MAC frame control information and through performing a query on a MAC address forwarding table, determining, by the controller, an interface used for forwarding an MAC frame based on the judgment results, wherein the interface used for forwarding the MAC frame comprises a downlink interface, an uplink electrical packet switching network interface and/or an uplink optical packet switching network interface; and
transmitting, by the controller, a control signal to a processor in the access switch, so that the MAC frame is forwarded to the determined interface;
wherein the making, by the controller, the judgments according to the MAC frame control information and through performing the query on the MAC address forwarding table comprises:
judging, by the controller, whether the MAC frame is received via a downlink interface;
judging, by the controller, whether a destination MAC address of the MAC frame is a broadcast address or a multicast address;
performing, by the controller, a query on the MAC address forwarding table, and determining, by the controller, whether a table entry corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is found in the MAC address forwarding table;
judging, by the controller, whether optical packet switching network forwarding interface information in the MAC address forwarding table is NULL;
judging, by the controller, whether the MAC frame is a protocol frame according to the frame protocol type information of the MAC frame;
judging, by the controller, whether an output cache which corresponds to an uplink optical packet switching network interface corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is overflowed.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining, by the controller, the interface used for forwarding the MAC frame based on the judgment results comprises: if the MAC frame is from a downlink interface, and the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is not a broadcast address or a multicast address, and the table entry corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is found in the MAC address forwarding table, and the optical packet switching network forwarding interface information in the MAC address forwarding table is not NULL, and it is judged that the MAC frame is not a protocol frame according to the control information, and the output cache which corresponds to the uplink optical packet switching network interface corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is not overflowed, then determining, by the controller, the uplink optical packet switching network interface corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame to be used for forwarding the MAC frame, otherwise, determining, by the controller, the downlink interface and/or the uplink electrical packet switching network interface to be used for forwarding the MAC frame;
if the uplink optical packet switching network interface corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is determined to be used for switching the MAC frame, then the transmitting, by the controller, the control signal to the processor, so that the MAC frame is forwarded to the determined interface comprises: transmitting, by the controller, the control signal to the processor, so that the MAC frame is switched to the uplink optical packet switching network interface corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the making, by the controller, the judgments according to the MAC frame control information and through performing the query on the MAC address forwarding table further comprises:
judging, by the controller, whether electrical packet switching network forwarding interface information corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame in the MAC address forwarding table is NULL;
performing, by the controller, a query on the MAC address forwarding table, and determining whether the electrical packet switching network forwarding interface information corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is found in the MAC address forwarding table;
wherein the if the MAC frame is not from a downlink interface, or the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is a broadcast address or a multicast address, or the table entry corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is not found in the MAC address forwarding table, or the optical packet switching network forwarding interface information in the MAC address forwarding table is NULL, or it is judged that the MAC frame is a protocol frame according to the control information, or the output cache which corresponds to the uplink optical packet switching network interface corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is overflowed, then determining, by the controller, the downlink interface and/or the uplink electrical packet switching network interface to be used for forwarding the MAC frame comprises: if the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is a broadcast address or a multicast address, or the table entry corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is not found in the MAC address forwarding table, or the electrical packet switching network forwarding interface information corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame in the MAC address forwarding table is NULL, or the electrical packet switching network forwarding interface information corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is not found in the MAC address forwarding table, then determining, by the controller, a downlink interface and/or an uplink electrical packet switching network interface of a present broadcast domain to be used for broadcasting the MAC frame; and
if the downlink interface and/or the uplink electrical packet switching network interface of the present broadcast domain is determined to be used for broadcasting the MAC frame, then the transmitting, by the controller, the control signal to the processor, so that the MAC frame is forwarded to the determined interface comprises: transmitting, by the controller, the control signal to the processor, so that the MAC frame is broadcasted to the downlink interface and/or the uplink electrical packet switching network interface of the present broadcast domain.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the if the MAC frame is not from a downlink interface, then determining, by the controller, the downlink interface and/or the uplink electrical packet switching network interface of the present broadcast domain to be used for broadcasting the MAC frame comprises: if the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is a broadcast address or a multicast address, or if the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is not a broadcast address or a multicast address and the electrical packet switching network forwarding interface information corresponding to the destination MAC address of the MAC frame is not found in the MAC address forwarding table, then determining, by the controller, the downlink interface of the present broadcast domain to be used for broadcasting the MAC frame, if the downlink interface of the present broadcast domain is determined to be used for broadcasting the MAC frame, then the transmitting, by the controller, the control signal to the processor, so that the MAC frame is forwarded to the determined interface comprises: transmit

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yang Xiaoling
• Ma Huixiao
• Geng Dongyu

Classifications

• H04L45/745

  Address table lookup; Address filtering · CPC title

• H04Q11/0003

  Details · CPC title

• H04L12/462

  LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone · CPC title

• H04Q2011/0064

  Arbitration, scheduling or medium access control aspects · CPC title

• H04L12/4625

  Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge · CPC title