Patent ID: 9654385
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A system, comprising: at least one processor; a network interface; and memory including instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: receive, over the network interface, a multicast packet for distributing to a set of receivers in an overlay network; perform a hash operation on at least a portion of the multicast packet to determine a hash key; select a forwarding tag (FTAG) value based at least on the hash key, wherein the FTAG value is associated with a multicast distribution tree in the overlay network, the multicast distribution tree being selected from a plurality of different multicast distribution trees in the overlay network; concatenate an overlay multicast group value with the FTAG value to provide a destination address; encapsulate the multicast packet with the concatenated overlay multicast group value and the FTAG value; and forward the encapsulated multicast packet to a network element located at a next-hop in the overlay network.