Patent ID: 8661556

Claim:
A method comprising: populating, using a processor of a network device, a forwarding table with a user group identifier, wherein said user group identifier is a source user group identifier, said source user group identifier identifies a source user group, said network device is coupled to a source, said source is in said source user group, said user group identifier is stored in said forwarding table as a result of a response being received from another network device, and said response is received in response to a request sent to said another network device by said network device; receiving a packet at said network device, wherein a source of said packet is said source, a destination of said packet is a destination, said packet comprises a source network address, and a destination network address, said source network address is a network address of said source, and said destination network address is a network address of said destination; and adding said source user group identifier to said packet, wherein said source user group identifier is retrieved from said forwarding table using said source network address.