Patent ID: 9742678
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method, comprising: learning new MAC addresses locally at an ingress PE device; and determining, by the ingress PE device, whether the MAC addresses were each learned over a root Ethernet segment or leaf Ethernet segment, respectively; storing, on the ingress PE device, the new MAC addresses in a table with an indication in the table whether each MAC address was learned over a root or leaf ingress Ethernet segment, respectively; receiving a frame at the ingress provider edge (PE) device of a computer network domain destined to a destination media access control (MAC) address; determining, by the ingress PE device, whether the frame was received on a root or leaf ingress Ethernet segment; determining, by the ingress PE device, whether the destination MAC address is located via a root or leaf Ethernet segment; and performing a filtering operation at the ingress PE device by dropping or forwarding the frame based on the ingress Ethernet segment and destination MAC address being either a root or a leaf Ethernet segment, respectively, wherein the ingress PE device drops the frame when the frame is determined to have been received from a leaf ingress segment and the destination MAC address is located via a leaf Ethernet segment, and wherein the ingress PE device forwards the frame when the frame is determined to have been received from any type of ingress segment and the destination MAC address is located via a root Ethernet segment, wherein filtering is again performed at an egress PE device of the computer network domain.