Device and method for relaying packets

1. A network relay device for relaying packets, comprising:

a plurality of interface units, each of the interface units including one or more physical ports for connection to a line, and a bandwidth controller configured to control transmission bandwidth for packets received by the physical ports, wherein the physical ports of the plurality of interface units are classified into a plurality of output port groups each including one or more physical ports, each output port group being associated with output port group information, wherein an output port group forms a virtual LAN architecture that divides a network including the plurality of physical ports into virtual partial networks;

a destination processor configured to, based on destination information associated with a received packet, select from among the physical ports, a single output physical port for transmission of the received packet; and

a bandwidth control setting module configured to set a control value of bandwidth control used by the bandwidth controller, the control value being set individually for at least one of the plurality of output port groups;

wherein the network relay device is configured to form one or more distributed-control logical ports each including plural physical ports which are distributed across two or more of the interface units, plural physical ports of a single distributed-control logical port being aggregated as a single virtual logical port by a link aggregation function of the network relay device, plural physical ports of a single distributed-control logical port being included in a single output port group for which the control value has been set, and

wherein the destination processor executes:

(i) a first process of selecting the distributed-control logical port for transmission of the received packet based on the destination information,

(ii) a second process of selecting a same single specific physical port as the output physical port from among the physical ports included in the distributed-control logical port based on the output port group information unique to the output port group including the distributed-control logical port.

2. The network relay device according to claim 1 , wherein

the virtual LAN architecture includes a plurality of virtual LANs each representing one of the plurality of output port groups, the plurality of virtual LANs including one or more bandwidth-controlled virtual LANs for which the control value has been set, and

the destination processor executes the first process and the second process when relaying the received packet to one of the bandwidth-controlled virtual LANs from a physical port that is not included in the same virtual LAN.

3. The network relay device according to claim 1 , wherein

the destination processor comprises:

a computing module configured to execute a computational process in accordance with a prescribed computational expression; and

a destination determining module configured to, based on the computation result, select the output physical port from among the physical ports included in a logical port; and

the computing module includes:

a first mode for executing the computational process using the output group information, for the purpose of selecting the output physical port from the distributed-control logical port; and

a second mode for executing the computational process using at least one of the destination information and source information associated with the received packet, for the purpose of selecting the output physical port from a logical port for which the control value has not been set.

4. The network relay device according to claim 3 , wherein

the computational expression used in the computational process is a hash function.

5. A method of relaying packets using a network relay device including a plurality of interface units, each of the interface units including one or more physical ports for connection to a line, and a bandwidth controller configured to control transmission bandwidth for packets received by the physical ports, wherein

the physical ports of the plurality of interface units are classified into a plurality of output port groups each including one or more physical ports, each output port group being associated with output port group information, wherein an output port group forms a virtual LAN architecture that divides a network including the plurality of physical ports into virtual partial networks, and the method comprises the steps of:

(A) at the network relay device, setting a control value of bandwidth control used by the bandwidth controller, the control value being set individually for at least one of the plurality of output port groups; and

(B) at the network relay device, selecting from among the physical ports a single output physical port for transmission of a received packet, based on destination information associated with the received packet;

wherein the network relay device is configured to form one or more distributed-control logical ports each including plural physical ports which are distributed across two or more of the interface units, plural physical ports of a single distributed-control logical port being aggregated as a single virtual logical port by a link aggregation function of the network relay device, plural physical ports of a single distributed-control logical port being included in a single output port group for which the control value has been set, and

wherein the step of selecting the output physical port includes the steps of:

(i) at the network relay device, executing a first process of selecting the distributed-control logical port for transmission of the received packet based on the destination information; and

(ii) at the network relay device, executing a second process of selecting a same single specific physical port as the output physical port from among the physical ports included in the distributed-control logical port based on the output port group information unique to the output port group including the distributed-control logical port.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein

the virtual LAN architecture includes a plurality of virtual LANs each representing one of the plurality of output port groups, the plurality of virtual LANs including one or more bandwidth-controlled virtual LANs for which the control value has been set, and

the first process and the second process are executed when relaying the received packet to one of the bandwidth-controlled virtual LANs from a physical port that is not included in the same virtual LAN.

7. The method according to claim 5 , wherein

the step of selecting the output physical port includes the steps of:

at the network relay device, executing a computational process in accordance with a prescribed computational expression; and

at the network relay device, selecting the output physical port from among the physical ports included in a logical port, based on the computation result;

wherein the step of executing the computational process includes the steps of:

in the event of selection of the output physical port from the distributed-control logical port, at the network relay device, selecting and executing the computational process using the output group information and in the event of selection of the output physical port from a logical port for which the control value has not been set, at the network relay device, selecting and executing the computational process using at least one of the destination information and source information associated with the received packet.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein

the computational expression used in the computational process is a hash function.

9. A network relay device for relaying packets, comprising:

a plurality of interface units, each interface unit including one or more physical ports for connection to a line, and a bandwidth controller configured to control transmission bandwidth for packets received by the physical ports of the interface unit, wherein the physical ports of the plurality of interface units are classified into a plurality of output port groups, each output port group including one or more physical ports and being associated with output port group information, wherein an output port group forms a virtual LAN architecture that divides a network including the plurality of physical ports into virtual partial networks;

a destination processor configured to, based on destination information associated with a received packet, select from among the physical ports, a single output physical port for transmission of the received packet; and

a bandwidth control setting module configured to set a control value of bandwidth control used by the bandwidth controller, the control value being set individually for at least one of the plurality of output port groups;

wherein the network relay device is configured to form one or more distributed-control logical ports, each distributed-control logical port including plural physical ports which are distributed across two or more of the interface units, plural physical ports of a single distributed-control logical port being aggregated as a single virtual logical port by a link aggregation function of the network relay device, select plural physical ports of a single distributed-control logical port being included in a single output port group for which the control value has been set, and

wherein the destination processor executes:

(i) a first process of selecting the distributed-control logical port for transmission of the received packet based on the destination information,

(ii) a second process of consistently using a consistent single specific physical port as the output physical port from among the physical ports included in the distributed-control logical port based on the output port group information unique to the output port group including the distributed-control logical port.