Delegate gateways and proxy for target hosts in large layer 2 and address resolution with duplicated internet protocol addresses

摘要

An apparatus comprising a plurality of district boundary bridges (DBBs) in a plurality of second network districts configured to couple to a plurality of core bridges in a core network district and to a plurality of end-stations in the second network districts via a plurality of intermediate switches in the second network districts; wherein the core bridges and the DBBs are aware of a plurality of Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of the DBBs but are not aware of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and MAC addresses of the end-stations, and wherein the IP addresses of the end-stations are mapped in a directory service (DS) in the core network district to the MAC addresses of the corresponding DBBs in the corresponding second network districts of the end-stations.

主权项

1. A method in a network component, comprising:
receiving a plurality of Layer 3 addresses and a plurality of Layer 2 addresses for a plurality of hosts in a corresponding network district in a bridged Layer 2 network; mapping the Layer 3 addresses of the plurality of hosts to a Layer 2 address of the network component; receiving a second plurality of Layer 2 addresses for a plurality of district boundary bridges (DBBs) in the bridged Layer 2 network and a second plurality of Layer 3 addresses of a second plurality of hosts associated with the Layer 2 addresses of the DBBs; mapping the Layer 3 addresses of the second hosts to the Layer 2 address of the corresponding DBBs; receiving an address resolution protocol (ARP) request that references one of the Layer 3 addresses for one of the hosts; sending an ARP response that comprises the Layer 2 address of the network component and the Layer 3 address of the host but not the Layer 2 address of the host in response to the ARP request; and not maintaining one or more Layer 3 address and one or more Layer 2 addresses for one or more hosts external of the plurality of hosts, wherein each DBB is configured to be aware of a plurality of Layer 2 addresses of the DBBs, and not aware of Layer 3 addresses of end-stations within network districts that are external of the network districts associated with the DBB.