Use of partitions to reduce flooding and filtering database size requirements in large layer two networks

摘要

A network component, comprising a memory unit comprising a filtering database (FDB), wherein the FDB comprises a medium access control (MAC) address and a Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN) Identifier (VID) pair for each of a plurality of end-stations associated with an edge-district partition of a network, wherein the edge-district partition is associated with the network component, and wherein the FDB comprises a wildcard FDB entry corresponding to each VLAN associated with the network component, and a logic unit coupled to the ingress ports and the egress ports, wherein the logic unit is configured to reduce flooding in the edge-district partition of the network; wherein the logic unit is configured to forward a received frame, having a destination MAC address and a VID for which there is not an exact match in the FDB, towards a core-bridge without flooding based on the wildcard entry in the FDB.

主权项

1. A network component, comprising:
an ingress port; a plurality of egress ports; a memory unit comprising a filtering database (FDB), wherein the FDB comprises:
a plurality of medium access control (MAC) address and Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN) Identifier (VID) () entries; anda wildcard FDB entry corresponding to a VLAN associated with the network component, and a logic unit coupled to the ingress port, the egress ports, and the memory unit, wherein the logic unit is configured to:
receive a frame from the ingress port that comprises a destination MAC (DMAC) address and a VID;determine whether the DMAC and the VID from the frame matches one of the entries; and forward the frame using the wildcard FDB entry when the DMAC and the VID does not match an entry, wherein every local address within the edge-district network has a corresponding entry within the FDB.