Patent ID: 8913483
Filing Date: 2014-12-16
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. In a hierarchical switching architecture comprising at least one lower level managed switching element (LLMSE) that connects to a plurality of higher level managed switching elements (HLMSEs), a method of identifying a HLMSE to which the LLMSE forwards a packet for further processing, the method comprising: performing a hash function based on the packet to generate a hash value; identifying a record for a particular HLMSE from a hierarchy traversal table by comparing the hash value against a range list that matches ranges of hash values to HLMSEs, the record specifying a first physical HLMSE as a primary HLMSE for the particular HLMSE and a second physical HLMSE as a secondary HLMSE for the particular HLMSE, said HLMSEs for receiving the packet from the LLMSE for processing when the LLMSE does not have a flow entry to forward the packet to a destination of the packet; determining whether the first physical HLMSE specified by the record has failed; when the first physical HLMSE has not failed, forwarding the packet to the first physical HLMSE; and when the first physical HLMSE has failed, forwarding the packet to the second physical HLMSE.