Patent ID: 8199655

Claim:
A method comprising: monitoring, by a layer-2 network switching system, a performance of at least one of a plurality of layer-2 network paths connecting a layer-2 network switch device to another layer-2 network switch device; selecting, by the layer-2 network switching system, an optimal one of the plurality of layer-2 network paths over which to forward data traffic based on a path selection heuristic and the monitored performance of the at least one of the plurality of layer-2 network paths; maintaining, by the layer-2 network switching system, data representative of a traffic forwarding table; periodically repeating, by the layer-2 network switching system, the monitoring of the performance of the at least one of the plurality of layer-2 network paths connecting the layer-2 network switch device to the another layer-2 network switch device; and dynamically updating, by the layer-2 network switching system, the traffic forwarding table based on the monitored performance of the at least one of the plurality of layer-2 network paths.