Patent ID: 8743879
Filing Date: 2014-06-03
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method performed at a network element located in a first domain for routing a packet from a host in the first domain to a host in a second communicatively coupled domain, each domain having a plurality of hosts that connect communicatively couple through a common network element of the respective domain, the network element communicatively coupled through a label switched path to the second domain, the method comprising: receiving a packet from the host in the first domain at the network element in the first domain, the packet including a destination address to the host in the second domain, the destination address being formed by replacing an Interface Identifier of an IP address by a second domain label and a shortened Media Access Control (MAC) address, the second domain label identifying the second domain, wherein the shortened MAC address is pre-provisioned; parsing the received packet to determine a destination of the packet in the second domain, based on the destination address; attaching a routing label and the shortened MAC address to the received packet, the routing label indicating a path to the second domain and the shortened MAC address indicating the destination host in the second domain; and sending the packet with the attached routing label and shortened MAC address on a label switched path indicated by the label to the second domain.