Patent ID: 8144698

Claim:
A machine implemented method, comprising: receiving, by a provider edge (PE) device of a provider network, a plurality of packets from a plurality of local nodes over a plurality of local area networks (LANs), the plurality of packets destined for one or more different remote nodes over the provider network, wherein each of the packets contains a source MAC (media access control) address identifying one of the local nodes as a source, the local nodes are identified by different source MAC addresses, and the PE device is associated with a set of virtual MAC addresses, wherein the PE device comprises a set of access interfaces, each of the access interfaces identified by a different one of the virtual MAC addresses and coupled to a different one of the LANs; replacing, by the PE device, each of the different source MAC addresses in the packets with one of the virtual MAC addresses associated with the PE device, wherein all of the different source MAC addresses from a same one of the LANs are replaced by a same one of the virtual MAC addresses; transmitting, by the PE device, the packets having the virtual MAC addresses toward the one or more destined remote nodes over the provider network; responsive to the PE device receiving a packet from a remote node over the provider network, the packet having one of the virtual MAC addresses of the PE device as a destination MAC address, the PE device performing the following: using a subset of bits in the destination MAC address as an index to identify one of a set of data structures, each of the data structures storing a mapping for a different one of the LANs between Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and physical MAC addresses of the local nodes; and determining that one of the local nodes is a destination of the packet based on the mapping stored in the identified data structure.