Patent ID: 9497075
Filing Date: 2016-11-15
CPC Classification: H04L

Claim Text:
1. A computer implemented method for providing multipath connectivity between layers in a communication protocol, the method comprising: addressing a plurality of computing devices connected to a multilevel network that comprises a first network layer of switches and a second network layer of switches in a leaf-spine architecture, the plurality of computing devices implementing transparent interconnection of links (TRILL) network connectivity at layer three; configuring a plurality of leaf switches at the first network layer to provide local area network access among the computing devices; configuring a plurality of spine switches at a second network layer to provide access to the computing devices; connecting each leaf switch to a plurality of the spine switches to provide multiple inter-layer communication paths between the leaf switches of the first network layer and the spine switches of the second network layer; assigning a common Internet protocol (IP) and media access control (MAC) address to all of the spine switches to associate all of the spine switches with a common network gateway; for each leaf switch, configuring the leaf switch with an inter-layer link selection protocol to selectively connect only one active inter-layer link between the leaf switch and the spine switches while disabling all other available inter-layer links between the leaf switch and the spine switches; and in response to detecting a failure of an active inter-layer link that connects a particular leaf switch to the spine switches, activating an alternative inter-layer link between the particular leaf switch and the spine switches while disabling all other available inter-layer links between the leaf switch and the spine switches; wherein the alternative inter-layer link is activated without reconfiguring the leaf switch with a new address for the alternate inter-layer link or relying on multipath loop prevention protocol functionality located within the spine switches.