Patent ID: 7296092

Claim:
A network device for inter-domain communications, comprising: a transceiver that is configured to transmit and receive packets over a network based, in part, on a network protocol; and a processor that is configured to create a virtual switch that is configured to receive a packet at one of a plurality of interfaces associated with the virtual switch, wherein the plurality of interfaces includes a plurality of virtual interfaces, and wherein the virtual switch is configured to be associated with at least three virtual interfaces, and to provide the packet at another of the plurality of interfaces, wherein the virtual switch is configured to provide the packet at the other of the plurality of interfaces by determining if a destination address for the packet is included in a neighbor cache table that is associated with the virtual switch, and wherein the virtual switch is further configured to add an entry to a neighbor cache table such that the entry includes a source address of the packet, and further includes the one of the plurality of interfaces that received the packet.