Patent ID: 7843958
Filing Date: 2010-11-30
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for resolving a Layer 3 address, comprising: maintaining an address resolution table at each slave processor of a plurality of slave processors, the slave processors embodied as a plurality of line cards of a device, the plurality of slave processors having a master processor embodied as a line card of the device, the master processor distinct from the slave processors, the master processor and the plurality of slave processors assigned a same unified address to direct a plurality of packets to the master processor, the master processor configured to receive the packets and distribute the packets to the slave processors, the address resolution table comprising one or more Layer 2-Layer 3 address mappings; receiving a packet having a next hop address comprising the Layer 3 address; and broadcasting an address resolution request from a slave processor to Ethernet media in response to establishing that the address resolution table of the slave processor fails to include an entry for the Layer 3 address, the address resolution request requesting a Layer 2 address corresponding to the Layer 3 address, the address resolution request indicating that an address resolution response comprising the Layer 2 address should be sent to the master processor using the unified address.