Load balancing in link aggregation and trunking
US6363077B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 12, 1999 |
| Grant date | Mar 26, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 12, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L47/125
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A communications network switch includes a plurality of network ports for transmitting and receiving packets to and from network nodes via network links, each of the packets having a destination address and a source address, the switch being operative to communicate with at least one trunking network device via at least one trunk formed by a plurality of aggregated network links. The communications network switch provides a method and apparatus for balancing the loading of aggregated network links of the trunk, thereby increasing the data transmission rate through the trunk. The switch includes: a packet buffer for temporarily storing a packet received at a source port of the network ports, the packet having a source address value, and a destination address value indicating a destination node that is communicatively coupled with the switch via a data path including a trunk; a packet routing unit for determining a destination trunked port associated with the packet, the destination trunked port including a subset of the plurality of network ports, the destination trunked port being coupled to the destination node via the data path; and load balancing unit for selecting a destination…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.