Patent ID: 8855117

Claim:
A method comprising: at a first switch that is a peer switch of a second switch, receiving from a first endpoint a unicast packet destined for a second endpoint; extracting, at the first switch, from the unicast packet a first source address of the first endpoint and a first destination address of the second endpoint; storing information, at the first switch, representing the first source address and the first destination address; receiving, at the first switch, from the second switch a broadcast packet comprising information indicating that network traffic is being sent from the second endpoint to the first endpoint by way of the second switch; extracting from the broadcast packet a second source address of the second endpoint and a second destination address of the first endpoint; determining, at the first switch, whether the first source address matches the second destination address and whether the first destination address matches the second source address indicating matched addresses of the first and second endpoints; and when matched addresses are indicated, sending from the first switch to the second switch a message comprising information configured to prevent the second switch from sending future broadcast packets indicating that network traffic is being sent from the second endpoint to the first endpoint.