Patent ID: 8149713

Claim:
A method, performed by a router, with said method comprising: communicating, by the router via one or more routing protocols, with other routers to generate a routing information base (RIB) for identifying topology information of, including routes within, a network attached to the router; generating, from the RIB, a global forwarding information base (FIB) containing entries, wherein the entries include: forwarding information for a plurality of routes, with said forwarding information including an identification of an egress interface of the router and next hop information; filtering the global FIB to generate a complete local FIB identifying forwarding information for a plurality of packets received by the router, wherein the complete local FIB includes a copy of less than all of the entries in the global FIB, and wherein the complete local FIB does not include all routes in the plurality of routes; determining how to forward each of the plurality of packets based on the complete local FIB; and forwarding each of the plurality of packets based on the complete local FIB.