Address learning method and address learning switch

1. A switch operating in a multistage switch network, the switch comprising:

a plurality of ports;

a first processor to process a source address and a destination address of a packet received by an input port of the plurality of ports; and

a memory to store data of the packet;

a second processor to output, under the control of the first processor, the data of the packet stored on the memory,

wherein the first processor calculates a first hash value of the source address of the packet in accordance with a specific hash function, identifies a first output port that is to learn the source address, the first output port being connected to a second switch that corresponds to the first hash value, and causes the second processor to output the data of the packet to the first output port.

2. The switch according to claim 1 , wherein the first processor calculates a second hash value of the destination address of the packet in accordance with the specific hash function, identifies a second output port connected to a switch corresponding to the second hash value, and causes the second processor to output the data of the packet to the second output port.

3. The switch according to claim 2 , wherein the second processor outputs the data of the packet to the second output port once if the second output port matches the first output port.

4. The switch according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a data base to store an identifier of a received port that received a packet and an address of a device, the device being any one of a device connected to the received port, a device connected to a lower stage switch connected to the received port, and a device connected to a switch downstream from the lower stage switch,

wherein the first processor performs a learning process to register to the data base the source address of the packet received from the input port.

5. The switch according to claim 4 , wherein each of the plurality of ports determines whether the received packet is a learning packet of the source address or a transfer packet, outputs the source address of the received packet to the first processor in the case of the learning packet, and outputs the destination address of the received packet to the first processor in the case of the transfer packet.

6. The switch according to claim 5 , wherein the first output port attaches, to the data of the packet, a tag indicating that the packet is the learning packet.

7. The switch according to claim 5 , wherein either the first output port or the second processor deletes at least part of a payload of the learning packet.

8. The switch according to claim 5 , wherein the first output port assigns a lower priority to the learning packet.

9. The switch according to claim 5 , wherein the first output port suspends output of the learning packet or deletes the learning packet when a bandwidth of a link to an upper stage switch is restricted.

10. The switch according to claim 5 , wherein the first output port limits the number of packets having the same source address out of a plurality of learning packets.

11. The switch according to claim 5 , wherein the first processor identifies a third output port by searching the data base with the destination address and causes the second processor to output the data of the packet to the third output port if the transfer destination switch corresponding to the first hash value is associated with the third output port.

12. The switch according to claim 5 , wherein each of the plurality of ports determines whether the received packet includes a tag indicating the learning packet.

13. The switch according to claim 5 , wherein each of the plurality of ports calculates a third hash value of the source address of the received packet in accordance with a specific hash function used in a one-stage-lower switch to perform the learning process if the third hash value is an identifier of a switch associated with the plurality of ports, and

calculates a fourth hash value of the destination address of the received packet in accordance with the hash function used in a one-stage-lower switch to transfer the received packet if the fourth hash value is the identifier of the switch associated with the plurality of ports.

14. An address learning method comprising:

processing a source address and a destination address of a packet received by an input port of a plurality of ports,

calculating a hash value of the source address of the packet in accordance with a specific hash function,

identifying a first output port that is to learn the source address, the first output port being connected to a second switch that corresponds to the hash value, and

outputting the data of the packet to the first output port.

15. A switch in a multistage switch network, the switch comprising:

a plurality of ports;

a data base to store an identifier of a received port that received a packet and an address of a device connected to one of a lower stage switch connected to the received port and a switch downstream from the lower stage switch;

a first processor to process a source address and a destination address of a packet received by an input port of the plurality of ports;

a memory to store data of the packet received by the input port; and

a second processor to output, under the control of the first processor, the data of the packet stored on the memory,

wherein each of the plurality of ports

determines whether a packet received from the lower stage switch connected to the input port is a learning packet of the source address or a transfer packet,

outputs the source address of the received packet to the first processor in the case of the learning packet, and

outputs the destination address of the received packet to the first processor in the case of the transfer packet,

wherein the first processor

performs a learning process to register to the data base the source address of the packet received from the input port,

identifies an output destination port by searching the data base with the destination address of the packet received from the input port, and

causes the second processor to output the data of the packet to the output destination port.

16. An intermediate stage switch in a multistage switch network, the multistage switch network including an upper stage switch in a stage upstream from the intermediate stage switch, the multistage switch network including a lower stage switch in a stage downstream from the intermediate stage switch, the intermediate stage switch comprising:

a plurality of ports;

a data base to store an identifier of a received port that received a packet and an address of a device connected to one of a lower stage switch connected to the received port and a switch downstream from the lower stage switch;

a first processor to process a source address and a destination address of a packet received by an input port of the plurality of ports;

a memory to store data of the packet received by the input port; and

a second processor to output, under the control of the first processor, the data of the packet stored on the memory,

wherein each of the plurality of ports

determines whether a packet received from the lower stage switch connected to the input port is a learning packet of the source address or a transfer packet,

outputs the source address of the received packet to the first processor in the case of the learning packet, and

outputs the destination address of the received packet to the first processor in the case of the transfer packet,

wherein the first processor performs a learning process to register to the data base the source addresses of the packet received from the plurality of ports,

calculates a first hash value of the destination addresses of the packet received from the input port in accordance with a specific hash function,

identifies a first output destination port connected to a destination switch corresponding to the first hash value, and

causes the second processor to output the data of the packet to the first output destination port,

calculates a second hash value of the source address of the packet received from the input port in accordance with the specific hash function,

identifies a second output destination port connected to the upper stage switch that corresponds to the second hash value and that is to learn the source address, and

causes the second processor to output the data of the packet to the second output destination port.