A method for processing packets in a network device, comprising: determining that a packet received by the network device is to be processed using a next hop group, selecting a member of the next hop group, and transmitting the packet to a second network device associated with a second member of the next hop group.

A method implemented by a network node in a Bit Index Explicit Replication Traffic/Tree Engineering (BIER-TE) domain is used to avoid duplicate packets. The method includes generating an improved bit index forwarding table (BIFT) containing a forwarding entry for a local area network (LAN)-connected adjacency from the network node to a pseudo node; and a secondary BIFT including a forwarding entry for a forward connected adjacency from the pseudo node to each of the pseudo node's next hop nodes except the network node; sending a packet containing a point to multipoint (P2MP) path with a bit position for the LAN-connected adjacency to the pseudo node according to the forwarding entry for the LAN-connected adjacency in the improved BIFT; and sending the packet to each of the pseudo node's next hop nodes on the P2MP path based on the secondary BIFT.

A method implemented by a network node in a Bit Index Explicit Replication Traffic/Tree Engineering (BIER-TE) domain is used to avoid duplicate packets. The method includes generating an improved bit index forwarding table (BIFT) containing a forwarding entry for a local area network (LAN)-connected adjacency from the network node to a pseudo node; and a secondary BIFT including a forwarding entry for a forward connected adjacency from the pseudo node to each of the pseudo node's next hop nodes except the network node; sending a packet containing a point to multipoint (P2MP) path with a bit position for the LAN-connected adjacency to the pseudo node according to the forwarding entry for the LAN-connected adjacency in the improved BIFT; and sending the packet to each of the pseudo node's next hop nodes on the P2MP path based on the secondary BIFT.

A scalable EBOF storage system identifies its storage devices and external physical interfaces, and respective public IP addresses assigned to each external physical interface. The scalable EBOF storage system assigns a respective private IP address to each storage device, private port identifier(s) to the storage devices, and respective public port identifier(s) to each storage device. The scalable EBOF storage system then generates an EBOF NAT table by mapping, for each storage device: each respective public IP address assigned to the external physical interfaces to the public port identifier assigned to that storage device to provide a public connection information combination for that storage device, the private IP address assigned to that storage device to the private port identifier assigned to that storage device to provide a private information connection combination for that storage device, and the public information connection combination to the private information connection combination for that storage device.

A scalable EBOF storage system identifies its storage devices and external physical interfaces, and respective public IP addresses assigned to each external physical interface. The scalable EBOF storage system assigns a respective private IP address to each storage device, private port identifier(s) to the storage devices, and respective public port identifier(s) to each storage device. The scalable EBOF storage system then generates an EBOF NAT table by mapping, for each storage device: each respective public IP address assigned to the external physical interfaces to the public port identifier assigned to that storage device to provide a public connection information combination for that storage device, the private IP address assigned to that storage device to the private port identifier assigned to that storage device to provide a private information connection combination for that storage device, and the public information connection combination to the private information connection combination for that storage device.

A method includes that a first routing device obtains a first identifier and a second identifier that are advertised by the second routing device. The first identifier is a bit forwarding router (BFR)-identifier (ID) of the second routing device that is valid in a bit indexed explicit replication (BIER) sub-domain to which the second routing device belongs. The second identifier is used to indicate being used only as a bit forwarding ingress router (BFIR). The first routing device skips, based on the first identifier and the second identifier, setting a bit that is in a forwarding bit mask (F-BM) and that corresponds to the first identifier. The F-BM is included in all BIER forwarding entries corresponding to the BIER sub-domain on the first routing device.

A method includes that a first routing device obtains a first identifier and a second identifier that are advertised by the second routing device. The first identifier is a bit forwarding router (BFR)-identifier (ID) of the second routing device that is valid in a bit indexed explicit replication (BIER) sub-domain to which the second routing device belongs. The second identifier is used to indicate being used only as a bit forwarding ingress router (BFIR). The first routing device skips, based on the first identifier and the second identifier, setting a bit that is in a forwarding bit mask (F-BM) and that corresponds to the first identifier. The F-BM is included in all BIER forwarding entries corresponding to the BIER sub-domain on the first routing device.

A communication method includes a first network device obtaining a first route and a second route from a second network device. A first network segment corresponding to the first route is a subnet segment of a second network segment corresponding to the second route. The second route is an aggregated route, and the first route indicates that the first network segment is unreachable. The first network device switches a next hop of the aggregated route based on the first route.

A communication method includes a first network device obtaining a first route and a second route from a second network device. A first network segment corresponding to the first route is a subnet segment of a second network segment corresponding to the second route. The second route is an aggregated route, and the first route indicates that the first network segment is unreachable. The first network device switches a next hop of the aggregated route based on the first route.

A data packet sending method includes determining a data packet set corresponding to each network device in a plurality of network devices, where the data packet set includes one or more data packets that need to be used by the corresponding network device, and data packet sets are not the same; generating a plurality of correspondences based on the data packet sets of the plurality of network devices, where the correspondence is a correspondence between a data packet group and a network device group, the network device group includes one or more network devices, and the data packet group includes data packets that need to be used by all network devices in the network device group; and sending the corresponding data packet group to the network devices in the network device group based on the correspondence.