Method and system for management of flood traffic over multiple 0:N link aggregation groups

1. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of packets at a port of an ingress line card, each packet associated with a virtual local area network (VLAN) and comprising traffic to be flooded in the associated VLAN;

splitting the packets into multiple internal streams;

forwarding the packets associated with the internal streams to a switch fabric;

at the switch fabric, determining one or more egress line cards of a plurality of line cards to which each internal stream is to be forwarded;

forwarding each packet associated with a particular internal stream to the one or more determined egress line cards based on the associated internal stream;

mapping the packets of each internal stream to a single egress port of each egress line card to which the packets of each internal stream are forwarded, the single egress port comprising one of a plurality of egress ports associated with a Link Aggregation Group (LAG); and

forwarding each packet to the egress port based on the mapping.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein splitting the packets into multiple internal streams comprises hashing the packets to assign a Multicast Group ID (MGID) to each packet.

3. A method according to claim 2 , further comprising determining an egress line card for each packet based on the associated MGID; and

wherein mapping the internal streams of the packets to an egress port of the egress line card comprises mapping the MGID associated with each received packet to one of the plurality of egress ports of the LAG.

4. A method according to claim 2 , further comprising inserting the MGID into a header associated with the packet.

5. A method according to claim 2 , wherein hashing comprises matching an internal hardware flow ID.

6. A method according to claim 2 , wherein hashing comprises matching a Media Access Control (MAC) address plus an Internet Protocol (IP) source and destination address.

7. A method according to claim 2 , wherein hashing comprises matching an outer Virtual Local Area Network ID (VID).

8. A method according to claim 2 , wherein hashing comprises matching an MPLS label plus an Internet Protocol (IP) source and destination address.

9. A method according to claim 3 , further comprising recovering from a port failure by:

identifying a port defect;

notifying the switch fabric about the port defect;

updating the mapping, at the egress line cards, of the MGID associated with each received packet to one of a plurality of ports of the LAG;

updating the mapping of the MGID associated with each received packet in the switch fabric to remap the packets to the correct line card; and

transmitting the data streams to the new port assignments.

10. A system comprising:

processing resources;

memory;

an ingress line card configured to:

receive a plurality of packets at a port of an ingress line card, each packet associated with a virtual local area network (VLAN) and comprising traffic to be flooded in the associated VLAN;

split the packets into multiple internal streams;

forward the packets associated with the internal streams to a switch fabric; wherein

the switch fabric is configured to:

determine one or more egress line cards of a plurality of line cards to which each internal stream is to be forwarded;

forward each packet associated with a particular internal stream to the one or more determined egress line cards based on the associated internal stream;

an egress line card configured to:

map the packets of each internal stream to a single egress port of each egress line card to which the packets of each internal stream are forwarded, the single egress port comprising one of a plurality of egress ports associated with a Link Aggregation Group (LAG); and

forward each packet to the egress port based on the mapping.

11. A system according to claim 10 , wherein splitting the packets into multiple internal streams comprises hashing the packets to assign a Multicast Group ID (MGID) to each packet.

12. A system according to claim 11 , further comprising determining an egress line card for each packet based on the associated MGID; and

wherein mapping the internal streams of the packets to an egress port of the egress line card comprises mapping the MGID associated with each received packet to one of the plurality of egress ports of the LAG.

13. A system according to claim 11 , further comprising inserting the MGID into a header associated with the packet.

14. A system according to claim 11 , wherein hashing further comprises matching an internal hardware flow ID.

15. A system according to claim 11 , wherein hashing further comprises matching a Media Access Control (MAC) address plus an Internet Protocol (IP) source and destination address.

16. A system according to claim 11 , wherein hashing further comprises matching an outer Virtual Local Area Network ID (VID).

17. A system according to claim 11 , wherein hashing further comprises matching an MPLS label plus an Internet Protocol (IP) source and destination address.

18. A system according to claim 12 , wherein:

the egress line card is further configured to:

identify a port defect;

notify the switch fabric about the port defect;

update the mapping, at the egress line cards, of the MGID associated with each received packet to one of a plurality of ports of the LAG;

the switch fabric is further configured to:

update the mapping of the MGID associated with each received packet in the switch fabric to remap the packets to the correct line card; and

transmit the data streams to the new port assignments.

19. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium; and

computer-executable instructions carried on the non-transitory computer readable medium, the instructions readable by a processor, the instructions, when read and executed, for causing the processor to:

receive a plurality of packets at a port of an ingress line card, each packet associated with a virtual local area network (VLAN) and comprising traffic to be flooded in the associated VLAN;

split the packets into multiple internal streams;

forward the packets associated with the internal streams to a switch fabric;

determine one or more egress line cards of a plurality of line cards to which each internal stream is to be forwarded;

forward each packet associated with a particular internal stream to the one or more determined egress line cards based on the associated internal stream;

map the packets of each internal stream to a single egress port of each egress line card to which the packets of each internal stream are forwarded, the single egress port comprising one of a plurality of egress ports associated with a Link Aggregation Group (LAG); and

forward each packet to the egress port based on the mapping.

20. An article of manufacture according to claim 19 , wherein splitting the packets into multiple internal streams comprises hashing the packets to assign a Multicast Group ID (MGID) to each packet.

21. An article of manufacture according to claim 20 , further comprising determining an egress line card for each packet based on the associated MGID; and

wherein mapping the internal streams of the packets to an egress port of the egress line card comprises mapping the MGID associated with each received packet to one of the plurality of egress ports of the LAG.

22. An article of manufacture according to claim 20 , further comprising inserting the MGID into a header associated with the packet.

23. An article of manufacture according to claim 20 , further comprising hashing to match an internal hardware flow ID.

24. An article of manufacture according to claim 20 , further comprising hashing to match a Media Access Control (MAC) address plus an Internet Protocol (IP) source and destination address.

25. An article of manufacture according to claim 20 , further comprising hashing to match an outer Virtual Local Area Network ID (VID).

26. An article of manufacture according to claim 20 , further comprising hashing to match an MPLS label plus an Internet Protocol (IP) source and destination address.

27. An article of manufacture according to claim 21 , further comprising recovering from a port failure by:

identifying a port defect;

notifying the switch fabric about the port defect;

updating the mapping, at the egress line cards, of the MGID associated with each received packet to one of a plurality of ports of the LAG;

updating the mapping of the MGID associated with each received packet in the switch fabric to remap the packets to the correct line card; and

transmitting the data streams to the new port assignments.