Patent EP0891061A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0891061A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Method and system for link level server/switch trunking
Assignee: HP Inc
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Filing: 1998-07-07
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2018-07-07
Abstract
Abstract In a method and system are provided for trunking multiple links between a switch and a server, server drivers recognise and automatically configure additional installed network interface cards (NICs) or multi-port NICs as group members. A monolithic driver, or an overlaying driver shim makes the group of NICs appear to be a single NIC to the server operating system and clients. Multiple NICs having the same MAC addresses and appearing on different ports are connected directly to a switch which treats the group as a single logical port. Using a deterministic algorithm, the switch looks up a received packet's destination in the address table. A list of possible ports for reaching the server and a flag indicating that the server is to be reached via this trunked group of ports are retrieved. The switch selects a port based upon the packet's source address. On the trunk to the clients, the server driver performs the same deterministic algorithm on the destination addresses. The invention supports fault tolerance. In one embodiment, a single switch is connected to a server via multiple NIC links. In another embodiment, the server is connected via multiple NIC links to a plurality of switches. To mitigate effects of the same source MAC address appearing on packets received from multiple ports in a group, the switch is notified that it is acceptable to see the server's MAC address appearing on several ports and is directed not to notify the system operator thereof.
Inventors
- 👤 Paul Congdon
- 👤 Brian Krelle
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 15:22
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04L; H04L49/00; H04L49/55; H04L49/557; H04L9/00; H04L9/40; H04L49/25; H04L49/253; H04L49/254; H04L49/35; H04L49/351; H04L69/00; H04L69/14
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
117 words
In a computer network, a method for trunking multiple links between a switch and a
server, the server having either of additional network interface cards (NICs) and multi-port
NICs installed therein, the method comprising the steps of: recognising and configuring said additional NICs or multi-port NICs as members of a
group; making said group appear to be a single NIC to said server's operating system and
clients; treating said group as a trunk having multiple ports; selecting, from a source address of a packet received at said switch, one of said ports
to reach said server; and selecting from a destination address of a packet sent from said server, one of said ports
to reach said client.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of Claim 1, further comprising the step of said multiple NICs in said
server programming their MAC address to be the same on all interfaces.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of Claim 1, wherein said step of selecting a port to reach said server
further comprises the step of switch performing a deterministic algorithm on said packet.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
114 words
The method of Claim 3, wherein said step of performing said deterministic algorithm
further comprises the steps of: said switch looking up the destination address of said server packet in the address table
of said switch; returning to said switch a flag indicating said server is to be reached via said multiple
ports; said flag directing said switch to a table containing the numbers of each of said
multiple ports distributed therein as entries; said switch indexing into said table, wherein the lowest M bits of the source MAC
address of said packet are used to calculate said index; said switch selecting one of said ports based upon said entry found at said index.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
72 words
The method of Claim 1, further comprising the step of mitigating the effects of the
same source MAC address appearing on packets received from said multiple ports and
preventing resulting interruptions in said switch, said mitigating step comprising the steps of: notifying said switch that it is acceptable to see said server's source MAC address
appearing on said multiple ports; and directing said switch not to notify said network's system operator thereof.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
145 words
The method of Claim 1, further comprising a fault tolerance step which comprises the
steps of: a) the switch seeing said MAC address used as said server's source on said multiple NIC
ports; and the switch selecting one of said multiple ports by looking at said client's MAC
address; wherein data communication between said server and said client is maintained in the event of
a disruption in a link to said ports; or b) connecting said server via multiple NIC links to a plurality of switches in a hubbed
tree structure; and connecting said switches together with a switch-to-switch link to create a plurality of
paths in said tree, such that a packet may be communicated over any of said paths; wherein data communication between said server and said client is maintained in the event of
disruption in one of said links to said ports.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
193 words
In a computer network, a method for trunking multiple links between a switch and a
server having either of additional network interface cards (NICs) and multi-port NICs
installed therein, comprising the steps of: a server driver recognising and configuring said additional NICs or multi-port NICs as
member of a group; making said group appear to be a single NIC to said server's operating system and
clients using one of a monolithic driver, or a driver shim overlaying at least one of said server
drivers; a switch connected to said group treating said group as a trunk having multiple ports; providing fault tolerance; selecting, from a source address of a packet received at said switch, one of said ports
to reach said server; selecting, from a source address of a packet received at said switch, one of said ports
to reach said server; selecting, from a destination address of a packet sent from said server, one of said
ports to reach said client; notifying said switch that it is acceptable to see said server's source MAC address
appearing on said multiple ports; and directing said switch not to notify said network's system operator thereof.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
71 words
The method of claim 7, wherein said step of providing fault tolerance comprises the
steps of: the switch seeing said MAC address used as said server's source on said multiple NIC
ports; and the switch selecting one of said multiple ports by looking at said client's MAC
address; wherein data communication between said server and said client is maintained in the event of
a disruption in a link to said ports.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
88 words
The method of claim 7, wherein said step of providing fault tolerance comprises the
steps of: connecting said server via multiple NIC links to a plurality of switches, in a hubbed
tree structure; and connecting said switches together with a switch-to-switch link to create a plurality of
paths in said tree, such that a packet may be communicated over any of said paths; wherein data communication between said server and said client is maintained in the event of
a disruption in one of said links to said ports.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
111 words
A system, in a computer network, for trunking multiple links between a switch and
server, comprising: means for recognising and configuring either of additional network interface cards
(NICs) or multi-port NICs as members of a group; means for making said group appear to be a single NIC t o said server's operating
system and clients; means for treating said group as a trunk having multiple ports; means for selecting, from a source address of a packet received at said switch, one of
said ports to reach said server; and means for selecting, from a destination address of a packet sent from said server, one
of said ports to reach said client.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
39 words
The system of claim 10 wherein said means for treating said group as a trunk and said
means for selecting a port to reach said server is one switch connected to said server via
multiple NICs in said group.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
37 words
The system of claim 10 wherein said means for treating said group as a trunk and said
means for selecting a port to reach said server is a plurality of NIC links to a plurality of
switches.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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