Port membership table partitioning

摘要

A firmware model is provided for a shared port membership table that is partitioned for different needs of a distributed network switch, such as broadcast groups, multicast groups, ACL rules, and other port membership groupings. The shared port membership table enables a control point to set the size of each of the types of port membership information based on their usage or expected usage. By shrinking one partition, the control point is able to use the port group entries for a different partition of port group information.

主权项

1. A method for managing port membership information in a distributed network switch having a plurality of switch modules, the method comprising:
receiving a request indicating a partition size associated with a type of port membership information; and modifying a port membership table based on the partition size, wherein the port membership table includes a first plurality of entries of a first type of port membership specifying port membership for multicast groups and a second plurality of entries of a second type of port membership specifying port membership for broadcast groups.