Patent ID: 8675662

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by a network device, an Ethernet frame that includes an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) payload; determining, by the network device, whether the Ethernet frame is an ingress frame or an egress frame for a virtual local area network (VLAN); determining, by the network device, a VLAN tag for the Ethernet frame when the frame is the ingress frame; inserting, by the network device and when the Ethernet frame is the ingress frame, a first portion of the VLAN tag into a source internet protocol (IP) address field of the IPv6 payload and a second portion of the VLAN tag into a destination IP address field of the IPv6 payload; outputting the Ethernet frame to the VLAN based on the first portion of the VLAN tag and the second portion of the VLAN tag; and repairing, by the network device, at least one of the source IP address field of the IPv6 payload or the destination IP address field of the IPv6 payload to match an original address for the Ethernet frame when the Ethernet frame is the egress frame.