Systems and methods for minimizing the number of forwarding identifiers in a network element with distributed architecture

摘要

A method may include, by a first network interface: receiving a packet having a flow via a first port of the first network interface; examining the packet to determine an ingress local forwarding identifier (LFID) associated with the flow of the packet; converting the ingress LFID to a global forwarding identifier (GFID) of the network element; and forwarding the packet to a switching element. The method may also include, by the switching element: determining a second network interface for egress of the packet based on the GFID; and forwarding the packet to the second network interface. The method may further include, by the second network interface: converting the GFID to an egress LFID associated with the flow of the packet; and forwarding the packet to a second port of the second network interface and a flow of the second network interface based on the egress LFID.