Patent ID: 8891535
Filing Date: 2014-11-18
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: adding an entry in a global forwarding table in a distributed switch, wherein the entry includes a multicast destination address and multicast membership information, wherein the distributed switch comprises distributed switch elements, wherein each distributed switch element comprises: starting a timer for the entry; when a miss event is generated by a first switch forwarding unit of the plurality of switch forwarding units that corresponds to a first distributed switch element of the distributed switch elements: in response to expiration of the timer of the entry, checking a hit status of a cache of each of the switch forwarding units of the distributed switch to determine whether any switch forwarding unit of the distributed switch has forwarded multicast data to the corresponding multicast membership information of the multicast destination address of the entry; and determining whether the entry is a cast-out candidate based on checking the hit status.