Patent ID: 7649904

Claim:
A routing node comprising: an interface that receives a packet from a network; a forwarding component; a control unit that installs forwarding information within the forwarding component; wherein, based on stored forwarding information, the forwarding component floods copies of the packet to a plurality of next hops associated with a same layer two (L2) network as the interface on which the packet was received, wherein the plurality of next hops excludes a next hop that corresponds to the interface on which the packet was received, wherein the forwarding component requires that the forwarding information installed by the control unit specify the plurality of next hops to which to flood the copies of the packet and is not capable of deriving the plurality of next hops to which to flood the copies of the packet from a single flooding next hop identifier after the packet is received from the network; a routing process executing at an application layer of the control unit that maintains routing information in accordance with routes through a network, and wherein the routing process maintains the routing information in a form that specifies the flooding next hop identifier for the L2 network; and a flooding next hop control module that, prior to receiving the packet, automatically derives the plurality of next hops to which to flood the copies of the packet based on the flooding next hop identifier of the routing information maintained by the routing process and installs the derived plurality of next hops into the forwarding information.