Patent ID: 7688716
Filing Date: 2010-03-30
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: detecting a failure of data communicability in a ring network; transmitting a multicast message across said ring network to an existing ring master, said multicast message comprising information about said failure; temporarily disabling MAC (Media Access Control) address learning in said ring network independent of MAC address flushing, in response to receiving said multicast message; designating a new ring master of said ring network preemptively before recovery from said failure of data communicability including electing one of a pair of ring devices of said ring network as said new ring master, said pair of ring devices proximate said failure; and blocking a ring port of said new ring master coupled to said failure, wherein said blocking comprises: dropping all incoming data traffic, dropping all outgoing IP (Internet Protocol) data traffic responsive to an output IP ACL (Access Control List) and dropping all outgoing non-IP data traffic responsive to an output MAC ACL.