Patent ID: 8553584

Claim:
A method in an Ethernet Bridge for improved load distribution in an Ethernet network that includes the Ethernet Bridge, wherein the Ethernet Bridge is one of a plurality of Ethernet Bridges in the Ethernet network each of which implement a common algorithm tie-breaking process to produce minimum cost shortest path trees, the Ethernet Bridge includes a database to store the topology of the Ethernet network, wherein the topology of the Ethernet Network includes a plurality of nodes and links between the nodes, the method comprising the steps of: determining a first set of one or more shortest paths between each Ethernet Bridge pair in the Ethernet network by executing a shortest path search algorithm on the topology of the Ethernet network stored in the database; selecting at least a first shortest path from the first set of shortest paths for each Ethernet Bridge pair, by applying the common algorithm tie-breaking process; calculating a link utilization value for each link of the Ethernet network based on the count of shortest paths selected that transit each link; determining a second set of one or more shortest paths between each Ethernet Bridge pair in the Ethernet network by executing the shortest path search algorithm on the topology of the Ethernet network stored in the database; generating a path utilization value for each shortest path in the second set of one or more shortest paths based on link utilization values corresponding to each shortest path; selecting a second shortest path from the second set of one or more shortest path on the basis of said path utilization value, wherein the selecting utilizes the common algorithm tie-breaking process when multiple shortest paths having equal path utilization values are present in the set of one or more shortest paths; and storing at least the first shortest path and the second shortest paths for each Ethernet Bridge pair in a forwarding database, wherein the forwarding database indicates where to forward traffic incoming to the Ethernet Bridge, whereby the selection of the second subsets in light of path utilization minimizes the standard deviation of load distribution across the entire Ethernet network.