Granted Patent B2

US 12,284,112 · App. 17/973,617 · Granted Apr 22, 2025

Inventor: Mohammad Nasir Ahmed (Bangalore, IN)

Assignee: Ruckus IP Holdings LLC

H04L45/24H04L45/02

Abstract

Claims (46)

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a multicast control packet by an edge port of a first switch of a cluster comprising a plurality of switches;

processing the multicast control packet by the first switch to update a local multicast state;

manipulating the multicast control packet to insert a unique identifier associated with the edge port on which the multicast control packet was received, resulting in a manipulated version of the multicast control packet; and

forwarding, by the first switch of the cluster, the manipulated version of the multicast control packet to at least one other switch of the cluster via an inter-chassis link that couples the first switch and the at least one other switch.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein updating the local multicast state comprises updating a local membership database with multicast group information indicated by the multicast control packet.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multicast control packet is an Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) packet.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the unique identifier is inserted into a checksum field of the IGMP packet.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multicast control packet is a Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) packet.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the unique identifier is inserted into a reserved field of the MLD packet.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving the manipulated version of the multicast control packet by a second switch of the cluster;

extracting the unique identifier from the manipulated version of the multicast control packet;

identifying, by the second switch of the cluster, a local port that corresponds to the unique identifier; and

processing the manipulated version of the multicast control packet in a context of the identified local port that corresponds to the unique identifier.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

restoring, by the second switch of the cluster, the multicast control packet to a pre-manipulation state, resulting in a restored multicast control packet; and

forwarding the restored multicast control packet to a router coupled to the second switch.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein restoring the multicast control packet to the pre-manipulation state comprises calculating a value and inserting the calculated value into the multicast control packet.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the value is a checksum value.

11. A method comprising:

receiving a multicast control packet by a second switch of a cluster comprising a plurality of switches, the multicast control packet received from a first switch of the cluster and comprising a unique identifier associated with an edge port of the first switch;

extracting, by the second switch, the unique identifier from the multicast control packet;

identifying, by the second switch, a local port that corresponds to the unique identifier;

processing the multicast control packet in a context of the identified local port that corresponds to the unique identifier; and

restoring, by the second switch, the multicast control packet to a pre-manipulation state, resulting in a restored multicast control packet; and

forwarding the restored multicast control packet to a router coupled to the second switch.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the multicast control packet is an Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) packet.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the unique identifier is extracted from a checksum field of the IGMP packet.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the multicast control packet is a Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) packet.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the unique identifier is extracted from a reserved field of the MLD packet.

16. A network switch comprising:

a processor; and

memory storing non-transitory computer readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive a first multicast control packet via an edge port of the network switch;

process the first multicast control packet and update a local multicast state;

manipulate the first multicast control packet and insert a unique identifier associated with the edge port on which the first multicast control packet was received, resulting in a manipulated version of the first multicast control packet; and

forward the manipulated version of the first multicast control packet to at least one other switch via an inter-chassis link that couples the network switch and the at least one other switch.

17. The network switch of claim 16 , wherein the network switch is configured to manipulate Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) packets.

18. The network switch of claim 16 , wherein the network switch is configured to manipulate Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) packets.

19. The network switch of claim 16 , wherein the memory stores additional instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive a manipulated version of a second multicast control packet from a second switch via the inter-chassis link;

extract a unique identifier from the manipulated version of the second multicast control packet;

identify a local port that corresponds to the unique identifier;

process the manipulated version of the second multicast control packet in a context of the identified local port that corresponds to the unique identifier; and

restore the manipulated version of the second multicast control packet to a pre-manipulation state.

Assignments (8)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (18)