Method and apparatus for direct frame switching using frame contained destination information

Abstract

Frame contained destination information may be used by a switch to identify an appropriate output port for a given frame without performing a table access operation. This reduces the processing requirements of the switch to enable the switch to handle frames more efficiently. The frame contained destination information may be contained in the frame's local destination MAC addresses (DA) such that a portion of the DA directly indicates, for each switch that handles the frame, an output port for that switch. Different portions of the DA may be used by different switches, depending on where they are in the network hierarchy. Large switches may also use sub-fields within their allocated portion in the DA to identify internal switching components. A location resolution server may be provided to store and distribute IP and MAC addresses and respond to local ARP requests on the local domain.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A local media access control (MAC) address assignment apparatus, comprising:
 at least one network interface;   at least one processor; and   memory storing instructions for execution by the processor, the instructions comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor:   define a value in a first portion of a MAC address to indicate network elements to which the MAC address is locally assigned; and   assign a first value to a first sub-field of an address portion of the MAC address, the first value having first output interface information usable by a first of the network elements to switch the frame to a particular output interface of the first network element without reference to other sub-fields of the address portion of the MAC address.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a local MAC address/internet protocol (IP) address database. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) function configured to assign IP addresses to devices connected to the communication network. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising an address resolution protocol (ARP) function configured to provide local MAC addresses in response to local ARP requests generated by devices connected to the communication network. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further include instructions that, when executed by the processor, assign a second value to a second sub-field of the address portion of the MAC address, the second value containing second output interface information usable by a second of the network elements to switch the frame to a particular output interface of the second network element. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , where the instructions further comprise instructions that, when executed by the processor:
 associate each sub-field of the address portion of the MAC address with a respective network element of the communication network; and   assign respective values to each sub-field of the address portion of the MAC address, each respective value containing output interface information usable by its associated network element to switch a frame containing the MAC address to a particular output interface of the associated network element without reference to other sub-fields of the address portion of the MAC address.