Patent ID: 8649259

Claim:
A method of coupling at least one Ethernet switch unit comprising an Ethernet switch unit Media Access Control (MAC) address to a routing-protocol-controlled Ethernet network, the method comprising: dual homing the at least one Ethernet switch unit on a pair of gateways connected to the routing-protocol-controlled Ethernet network, the pair of gateways being connected by an inter-gateway trunk; configuring the at least one Ethernet switch unit and the pair of gateways to implement a control plane logical ring linking the at least one Ethernet switch unit to the pair of gateways; associating a common Media Access Control (MAC) address of the routing-protocol-controlled Ethernet network with each Ethernet switch unit linked to the pair of gateways via the control plane logical ring; and representing, into the routing-protocol-controlled Ethernet network at one of the gateways using the common MAC address in lieu of the Ethernet switch unit MAC address, packets received from each Ethernet switch unit linked to the pair of gateways via the control plane logical ring.