Patent ID: 8160080

Claim:
A method of aging out entries in one or more forwarding databases used in processing network traffic, the method comprising: accessing an entry in the one or more forwarding databases; using a first criterion to age out the entry if the entry is owned by a first device; and using a second criterion to age out the entry if the entry is not owned by the first device, wherein the first criterion is different from the second criterion, wherein using the first criterion to age out the entry if the entry is owned by a first device comprises using a local threshold value to age out the entry if the entry is owned by the first device, wherein using the second criterion to age out the entry if the entry is not owned by the first device comprises using a remote threshold value to age out the entry if the entry is not owned by the first device, and wherein using the first criterion to age out the entry comprises: comparing the entry to a local threshold value; incrementing the entry by a predetermined value if the entry is less than the local threshold value; deleting the entry if the entry is greater than or equal to the local threshold value; and transmitting an aged address message from the device to a second device if the entry of the first set of entries is greater than or equal to the local threshold value.