Patent ID: 6163543
Filing Date: 2000-12-19
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A computer readable medium containing executable program instructions for aggregating a plurality of redundant links connecting corresponding physical ports of neighboring devices in a computer network, the executable program instructions comprising program instructions for:forwarding one or more aggregation protocol data unit (AGPDU) messages at each of two or more physical ports of a first device for receipt by one or more neighboring devices, each AGPDU message including a unique device identifier corresponding to the first device and a port identifier corresponding to the port from which the respective AGPDU message is forwarded;in response to receiving one or more AGPDU messages from a given neighboring device, determining whether two or more physical ports of the first device are directly coupled to two or more physical ports of the given neighboring device by respective redundant links;aggregating the two or more physical ports of the first device that are directly coupled to the given neighboring device into a single, logical aggregation port; andin response to receiving, at a first physical port of the first device, an AGPDU message that contains a unique identifier and a port number corresponding to the neighboring device and physical port from which the AGPDU message was sent, inserting the neighboring device's port number and unique identifier into one or more AGPDU messages forwarded from the first physical port of the first device.