Patent ID: 8472445
Filing Date: 2013-06-25
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A network switch comprising: a plurality of network ports, wherein a first port of the plurality of network ports has a port identifier and receives a first packet transmitted from a source device via a network to the network switch, wherein the first packet comprises an address of the source device; a memory configured to store a forwarding database, wherein the forwarding database comprises entries, and wherein each of the entries comprises (i) an identifier of one of the plurality of network ports and (ii) an address of a network device; and a controller configured to wherein the controller is configured to send the first message to the processor when (i) the address of the source device is not stored in the memory or (ii) the port identifier of the first packet is not stored with the address of the source device as one of the entries in the forwarding database.