Patent ID: 9225642
Filing Date: 2015-12-29
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising: receiving a reverse path forwarding check frame at a first port of an Ethernet device, the reverse path forwarding check frame including a virtual local area network identifier (VID); accessing a VID table using the VID to look up an ingress property of the first port associated with the VID in the VID table, wherein the VID table includes fields having the VID and one or more first properties of the first port, wherein the one or more properties of the first port include an ingress property and an egress property of the first port, wherein the ingress property includes information that indicates whether the reverse path forwarding check frame is allowed to enter through the first port and wherein the egress property includes information that indicates whether the reverse path forwarding check frame is allowed to exit through the first port, wherein the VID table includes fields having the VID, further ingress property and further egress property of the second port, wherein the further ingress property includes information that indicates whether the reverse path forwarding check frame is allowed to enter through the second port and wherein the further egress property includes information that indicates whether the reverse path forwarding check frame is allowed to exit through the second port; performing an ingress check to determine if the reverse path forwarding check frame is allowed to enter through the first port by evaluating the one or more first properties of the first port, wherein the reverse path forwarding check frame is dropped in response to the ingress property of the first port included in the VID table indicating that the reverse path forwarding check frame is not allowed to enter through the first port, wherein the first port comprises a receive port; accessing a filtering database to determine the second port on which to forward the reverse path forwarding check frame in response to evaluating the one or more first properties of the first port; and accessing the VID table using the VID to look up the further egress property of the second port associated with the VID in the VID table to determine whether the reverse path forwarding check frame is allowed to exit through the second port, wherein the reverse path forwarding check frame is forwarded on the second port in response to the further egress property of the second port included in the VID table indicating that the reverse path forwarding check frame is allowed through the second port, wherein the second port comprises a transmit port.