METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING LINK AGGREGATION

摘要

A network node or corresponding method of performing link aggregation reduces a number of Content Addressable Memory (CAM) entries required to make a forwarding decision for a given ingress flow, reducing cost, size, and power consumption of the CAM and accompanying static RAM. In one embodiment, an ingress flow is mapped to an egress flow identifier. Subsequently, the egress flow identifier is mapped to a member of an aggregated group associated with an egress interface based on information available in a given ingress flow. Finally, the given ingress flow is forwarded to the member of the aggregated group associated with the egress interface. A hashing technique or two lookups may be used alone or in combination in mapping the ingress flow to the egress flow identifier to reduce CAM memory usage.

主权项

1. A method of performing link aggregation, comprising:
forwarding a given ingress flow to an egress interface; and at least one of: prior to the forwarding, mapping the given ingress flow associated with a member of a first aggregated group to an ingress flow identifier based on information available in the given ingress flow; and prior to the forwarding, mapping the given ingress flow to an egress flow identifier and mapping the egress flow identifier to a member of a second aggregated group associated with the egress interface based on information available in the given ingress flow.