Relay system and switching device

1. A relay system comprising:

a first switching device, a second switching device and a third switching device which are disposed at an entrance or an exit of a PBB network in which a relay based on a PBB standard is carried out, convert an unencapsulated frame received from outside of the PBB network into an encapsulated frame to relay the frame to the PBB network, and convert the encapsulated frame received from the PBB network into the unencapsulated frame to relay the frame to the outside of the PBB network,

wherein the unencapsulated frame contains a customer address, the encapsulated frame has a configuration in which an encapsulation address including a plurality of bits is added to the unencapsulated frame based on the PBB standard, each of the first switching device and the second switching device includes: a lower-link port which transmits or receives the unencapsulated frame;

an upper-link port which transmits or receives the encapsulated frame;

one or a plurality of MCLAG ports including a first MCLAG port serving as the lower-link port on which an inter-device LAG is set; and

a bridge port serving as the upper-link port, which connects the first switching device and the second switching device with each other,

the encapsulation address of the first switching device is set so as to be different only in a part of the plurality of bits in comparison with the encapsulation address of the second switching device,

the third switching device includes:

a lower-link port for transmitting or receiving the unencapsulated frame;

an upper-link port for transmitting or receiving the encapsulated frame;

an address table which retains the customer address present ahead of the lower-link port in association with a port identifier representing the lower-link port and retains the customer address present ahead of the upper-link port in association with the encapsulation address and a port identifier representing the upper-link port; and

a learning information control unit which, in a first case in which the encapsulated frame is received at the upper-link port and the encapsulation address corresponding to the source customer address of the encapsulated frame is acquired from the address table

wherein the learning information control unit of the third switching device in a second case determines whether the difference between the source encapsulation address of the encapsulated frame and the encapsulation address acquired from the address table lies only in the part of the plurality of bits;

wherein, when the difference lies only in the part of the plurality of bits, the third switching device does not learn the correspondence relation between the source customer address and the source encapsulation address to the address table; and

wherein, when the difference lies not only in the part of the plurality of bits, the third switching device learns the correspondence relation between the source customer address and the source encapsulation address to the address table.

2. The relay system according to claim 1 ,

wherein, in the second case, the learning information control unit does not update an aging timer of an entry corresponding to the customer address on the address table.

3. The relay system according to claim 1 ,

wherein, in a case where a precedence value is determined and in the second case, the learning information control unit learns the correspondence relation to the address table in a third case in which the part of the plurality of bits contained in the source encapsulation address of the encapsulated frame is the precedence value, and the learning information control unit does not learn the correspondence relation to the address table in a fourth case in which the part of the plurality of bits is not the precedence value.

4. The relay system according to claim 1 ,

wherein, when relaying the unencapsulated frame received at its own first MCLAG port to the upper-link port, each of the first switching device and the second switching device generates the encapsulated frame by using the encapsulation address of the device itself.

5. The relay system according to claim 4 ,

wherein each of the first switching device and the second switching device further include:

an address table which retains the customer address present ahead of the lower-link port in association with a port identifier representing the lower-link port or an MCLAG identifier corresponding to the lower-link port, and retains the customer address present ahead of the upper-link port in association with the encapsulation address and a port identifier representing the upper-link port or an MCLAG identifier corresponding to the upper-link port;

a relay processing unit which carries out learning and retrieval of the address table; and

an MCLAG identifier adding unit which adds an MCLAG identifier corresponding to the MCLAG port to the frame when relaying the frame received at the MCLAG port to the bridge port.

6. The relay system according to claim 5 ,

wherein, in the case where the destination encapsulation address contained in the received encapsulated frame is the encapsulation address of the first switching device or the second switching device, the relay processing unit retrieves the address table of the first switching device by using the destination customer address contained in the encapsulated frame as a retrieval key.

7. A switching device comprising:

a lower-link port which is disposed at an entrance or an exit of a PBB network in which a relay based on a PBB standard is carried out, converts an unencapsulated frame received from outside of the PBB network into an encapsulated frame to relay the frame to the PBB network, and converts the encapsulated frame received from the PBB network into the unencapsulated frame to relay the frame to the outside of the PBB network, and thus transmits or receives the unencapsulated frame; and

an upper-link port which transmits or receives the encapsulated frame,

wherein the unencapsulated frame contains a customer address,

the encapsulated frame has a configuration in which an encapsulation address including a plurality of bits is added to the unencapsulated frame based on the PBB standard,

the switching device is connected to two different switching devices disposed at an entrance or an exit of the PBB network through the PBB network,

the two different switching devices have the lower-link ports on which an inter-device LAG is set, and

the encapsulation address of one of the two different switching devices is set so as to be different only in a part of the plurality of bits in comparison with the encapsulation address of the other switching device,

the switching device further comprising:

an address table which retains the customer address present ahead of the lower-link port in association with a port identifier representing the lower-link port and retains the customer address present ahead of the upper-link port in association with the encapsulation address and a port identifier representing the upper-link port; and

a learning information control unit which, in a first case in which the encapsulated frame is received at the upper-link port and the encapsulation address corresponding to the source customer address of the encapsulated frame is acquired from the address table

wherein the learning information control unit of the switching device in a second case determines whether the difference between the source encapsulation address of the encapsulated frame and the encapsulation address acquired from the address table lies only in the part of the plurality of bits;

wherein, when the difference lies only in the part of the plurality of bits, the switching device does not learn the correspondence relation between the source customer address and the source encapsulation address to the address table; and

wherein, when the difference lies not only in the part of the plurality of bits, the switching device learns the correspondence relation between the source customer address and the source encapsulation address to the address table.

8. The switching device according to claim 7 ,

wherein, in the second case, the learning information control unit does not update an aging timer of an entry corresponding to the customer address on the address table.

9. The switching device according to claim 7 ,

wherein, in a case where a precedence value is determined and in the second case, the learning information control unit learns the correspondence relation to the address table in a third case in which the part of the plurality of bits contained in the source encapsulation address of the encapsulated frame is the precedence value, and the learning information control unit does not learn the correspondence relation to the address table in a fourth case in which the part of the plurality of bits is not the precedence value.

10. The switching device according to claim 7 , further comprising:

one or a plurality of MCLAG ports including a first MCLAG port serving as the lower-link port on which an inter-device LAG is set;

a bridge port serving as the upper-link port, which connects the switching device and a peer switching device with each other;

a relay processing unit which carries out learning and retrieval of the address table; and

an MCLAG identifier adding unit which adds an MCLAG identifier corresponding to the MCLAG port to the frame when relaying the frame received at the MCLAG port to the bridge port,

wherein the address table retains the customer address present ahead of the lower-link port in association with a port identifier representing the lower-link port or an MCLAG identifier corresponding to the lower-link port, and retains the customer address present ahead of the upper-link port in association with the encapsulation address and a port identifier representing the upper-link port or an MCLAG identifier corresponding to the upper-link port.

11. The switching device according to claim 10 ,

wherein, in the case where the destination encapsulation address contained in the received encapsulated frame is the encapsulation address of the switching device or the peer switching device, the relay processing unit retrieves the address table of its own device by using the destination customer address contained in the encapsulated frame as a retrieval key.