High speed trunking in a network device
View Patent ↗A network device for selecting a port from a trunk group on which to transmit a multicast packet. The network device includes at least one trunk group including a plurality of physical ports. The network device is connected to at least one other network device by a number of the plurality of physical ports. The network device also includes a table with a plurality of entries, wherein each entry is associated with the number of the plurality of physical ports on the network device. Each entry specifies if a packet should be transmitted on one of the plurality of physical ports. The network device further includes a determiner for determining whether or not an override field is set, a hasher for hashing, based on a result from the determiner, a predefined number of bits from predefined fields in the packet to select one entry in the table, wherein the selected entry is used to identify a destination port and a transmitter for transmitting the packet to the destination port based on results from the one of the determiner or the hasher.
1. A network device for selecting a port from a trunk group on which to transmit a packet, the network device comprising:
at least one trunk group comprising a plurality of physical ports, wherein the network device is configured to connect to at least one other network device by a number of the plurality of physical ports;
a table comprising a plurality of entries, wherein each entry is associated with one of the plurality of physical ports on the network device;
a determiner configured to determine whether or not an override field is set;
a hasher configured to hash, based on a result from the determiner, a predefined number of bits from predefined fields in a packet to select one entry in the table, wherein the selected one entry is used to identify a destination port, the predefined fields including:
a source address, a VLAN, an Ethertype, a source module identifier, a destination address, and a source port; or
a source IP address, a TCP source port, a destination IP address, and a TCP destination port; or
a source address, a destination address, a source port trunk identifier, a source port, and a source module identifier; or
source IP address, a destination IP address, a source port trunk group identifier, a source port, and a source module identifier; and
a transmitter configured to transmit the packet to the destination port based on results from one of the determining or the hashing.
2. The network device according to claim 1 , further comprising a determiner configured to bypass the hasher based on an override field being set.
3. The network device according to claim 2 , wherein the determiner is configured to select the destination port from a bitmap in a destination table.
4. The network device according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of physical ports is a high speed port.
5. The network device according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one trunk group comprises up to four high speed ports.
6. The network device according to claim 1 , wherein the hasher is configured to hash the predefined number of bits to obtain an index for selecting the one entry in the table.
7. A method for selecting a port from a trunk group on which to transmit a multicast packet, the method comprising:
connecting, by a network device, to at least one other network device by a number of a plurality of physical ports in at least one trunk group;
storing a plurality of entries in a table, wherein each entry is associated with the number of the plurality of physical ports;
determining whether or not an override field is set;
hashing, based on a result from the determining, a predefined number of bits from predefined fields in a packet to select one entry in the table, wherein the selected one entry is used to identify a destination port, the predefined fields including:
a source address, a VLAN, an Ethertype, a source module identifier, a destination address, and a source port; or
a source IP address, a TCP source port, a destination IP address, and a TCP destination port; or
a source address, a destination address, a source port trunk identifier, a source port, and a source module identifier; or
a source IP address, a destination IP address, a source port trunk group identifier, a source port, and a source module identifier; and
transmitting the packet to the destination port based on one of the determining or the hashing.
8. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising bypassing the hashing if an override field is set.
9. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising selecting a destination port from a bitmap in a destination table based on whether an override field is set.
10. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising hashing the predefined number of bits to obtain an index for selecting the one entry in the table.
11. An apparatus for selecting a port from a trunk group on which to transmit a multicast packet, the apparatus comprising:
connecting means for connecting the network device to at least one other network device by a number of a plurality of physical ports in at least one trunk group;
storing means for storing a plurality of entries in a table, wherein each entry is associated with the number of the plurality of physical ports;
determining means for determining whether or not an override field is set;
hashing means for hashing, based on a result from the determining means, a predefined number of bits from predefined fields in a packet to select one entry in the table, wherein the selected one entry is used to identify a destination port, the predefined fields including:
a source address, a VLAN, an Ethertype, a source module identifier, a destination address, and a source port; or
a source IP address, a TCP source port, a destination IP address, and a TCP destination port; or
a source address, a destination address, a source port trunk identifier, a source port, and a source module identifier; or
a source IP address, a destination IP address, a source port trunk ˜group identifier, a source port, and a source module identifier; and
transmitting means for transmitting the packet to the destination port based on results from one of the determining means or the hashing means.