Patent ID: 8903942

Claim:
A system, comprising: a first network control entity associated with a first network segment, the first network segment including at least a portion of a plurality of data ports at a first network element operatively coupled to a data plane of a switch fabric; a second network control entity associated with the first network segment, the first network segment including at least a portion of a plurality of data ports at a second network element operatively coupled to the data plane of the switch fabric, the second network element being different from the first network element; and a third network control entity associated with a second network segment, the second network segment including at least a portion of a plurality of data ports at a third network element operatively coupled to the data plane of the switch fabric, the third network element being different from the first network element and the second network element, the first network control entity to send to the second network control entity an identifier of the first network segment and forwarding-state information associated with a data port from the portion of the plurality of data ports at the first network element, the second network control entity to receive the identifier of the first network segment and the forwarding-state information, the second network control entity to store the forwarding-state information at a memory associated with the second network control entity, the second network control entity to send a control signal to the second network element in response to the forwarding-state information, the first network control entity to not send to the third network control entity the identifier of the first network segment and the forwarding-state information based on the identifier of the first network segment and an identifier of the second network segment.