Patent ID: 7903545

Claim:
A network device, comprising: a first memory to store a primary multicast tree state table for storing next-hop information for a multicast tree corresponding to a multicast stream; a second memory to store a secondary multicast tree state table, different than the primary multicast tree state table, for storing the next-hop information for the multicast tree corresponding to the multicast stream; a receiver to receive a first plurality of data units from a neighbor network device, the plurality of data units each including information regarding a next-hop in the multicast tree; and one or more processors to: update the primary multicast tree state table based on the information regarding the plurality of next-hops in the multicast tree, generate a different second plurality of data units from the first plurality of data units based on receiving the first plurality of data units, the different second plurality of data units each including information regarding a next-hop for a multicast stream, and update the secondary multicast tree state table, in response to the one or more processors updating the primary multicast tree state table, based on the information regarding the plurality of next-hops in the multicast tree from the different second plurality of data units.