Patent ID: 7760720
Filing Date: 2010-07-20
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for communicating information through a switch, the method comprising: maintaining a data structure relating native Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of devices and external MAC addresses, wherein each of said external MAC addresses comprises a hierarchical address including a portion identifying the switch and a second portion identifying a device of which the hierarchical address represents; receiving a request packet from a source to identify a destination MAC address based on a higher-level protocol destination address, with the request packet including: (1) a native MAC address as: (a) its source MAC address in the header of the request packet and (b) as a hardware address of the sender of the request packet in the packet data of the request packet, and (2) the higher-level protocol destination address in the packet data of the request packet; and in response: identifying an external address corresponding to the native MAC address based on the data structure and sending a translated request packet based on the request packet to identify the destination MAC address, the translated request packet including: (1) the external address as its source MAC address in the header of the translated request packet, and (2) the external MAC address as the hardware address of the sender in the packet data of the request packet, and (3) the higher-level protocol destination address in the packet data of the request packet; wherein the external MAC address comprises a hierarchical address including a portion identifying the switch and a second portion identifying a device associated with the native MAC address; and receiving a reply packet to the translated request packet, the reply packet including: (1) the external MAC address (a) in the header of the request packet and (b) as a hardware address of the sender of the request packet in the packet data of the reply packet, and (2) the destination MAC address in the packet data of the reply packet, and in response, translating the external MAC address to the native MAC address based on the data structure, and sending a translated reply packet including: the native MAC address as its destination MAC address in the header of the translated request packet, and packet data including: (1) the native MAC address as the hardware address of the sender of the request packet, and (2) the destination MAC address, with the translated reply packet being generated based on the contents of the reply packet.