Patent ID: 7903665
Filing Date: 2011-03-08
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A system for synchronizing packet forwarding information, comprising: a control processor configured to implement a control plane to generate first forwarding information and transfer the first forwarding information to an active forwarding table of a network processor; and a network processor configured to implement a forwarding plane to receive packets and use the first forwarding information in the active forwarding table to forward the received packets to one or more network devices; wherein, after the control plane is restarted, the control processor is further configured to use the restarted control plane to generate second forwarding information and incrementally update the first forwarding information in the active forwarding table with the second forwarding information while the network processor's forwarding plane continues to forward traffic, wherein incrementally updating the first forwarding information comprises reading the first forwarding information in the active forwarding table to create an internal copy of the first forwarding information in the control plane and comparing the second forwarding information to the internal copy of the first forwarding information to determine how to incrementally update the first forwarding information in the active forwarding table with the second forwarding information.