In example implementations, a method is provided. The method detects, by a processor, an assignment of a master router role for a virtual router redundancy protocol (VRRP), a protocol independent multicast (PIM) designated router (DR) role for a PIM protocol, and a querier router role for an internet group management protocol (IGMP) to different routers in a network. A communication procedure is initiated to identify which routers of the routers are assigned to the master router role, the DR role and the querier router role. The master router role, the DR role and the querier router role are then automatically aligned to a single router of the routers via an ordered communication exchange.

A packet forwarding device and a system using same are provided. The packet forwarding device includes a datapath forwarding hardware unit for processing a first set of packets matching a first set of rules of a rules table. The packet forwarding device further includes a datapath forwarding software unit for generating or modifying the rules table and for processing a second set of packets matching a second set of rules of the rules table and applying a service to the second set of packets.

Facilitating machine to machine communication solutions is provided herein. A system can comprise a processor and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations that can comprise establishing a first communication link between a first communication device associated with a first data center rack of a data center and a second communication device of a central controller device of the data center. The operations can also comprise establishing a second communication link between the first communication device and a third communication device associated with a second data center rack of the data center. Further, the operations can comprise establishing a third communication link between the second communication device and the third communication device. The first communication device, the second communication device, and the third communication device can be configured to communicate using a millimeter wave high speed wireless communication protocol.

A method of forwarding information base synchronization for a network switch stacking system includes transmitting by at least one slave network switch at least one change event to a master network switch, generating by the master network switch a change confirmation to the at least one slave network switch when a master forwarding information base is determined to be necessarily updated by the master network switch according to the at least one change event, and updating by the at least one slave network switch at least one slave forwarding information base according to the change confirmation, wherein the at least one change event includes at least one of a new learn event, a port move event, a regular port aging out event, a logic aggregation update aging time event.

Various examples provide a method and apparatus of generating a system port identity. According to the method, a member device may determine a value c which is the number of unit IDs to be allocated to a chip in an interface board of the member device, c is larger than 1; generate a system port identity which identifies a port in the stack for each of plural first ports of the chip using a first unit ID of the c unit IDs; generate a system port identity for each of plural second ports of the chip other than the first ports using a second unit ID of the c unit IDs.

A system includes a first switch, a second switch, and a processing device. The first switch detects a failure occurring at a first port, generates failure information on the first port when the failure occurring at the first port is detected, and transmits a failure notification packet including the failure information to another switch through a port other than the first port. The second switch transmits a selection-condition-added packet through a port which is coupled to the processing device, the selection-condition-added packet being obtained by adding, to the failure notification packet, selection condition information indicating a selection condition that a second port is selected as a port to relay a packet, the second port having received the failure notification packet through the another switch. And, the processing device performs a path control of a packet based on selection condition information extracted from the selection-condition-added packet received.

A circuit and corresponding method employ mixed-dimension order routing. The circuit comprises an interconnect, associated with a two-dimensional (2D) coordinate system, and a switch coupled to the interconnect. The switch determines a route path for a flit based on a mixed-dimension order routing method. The flit originates at an origin. The mixed-dimension order routing method employs, based on the origin of the flit, vertical-to-horizontal dimension routing or horizontal-to-vertical dimension routing. The switch routes the flit via the interconnect of the circuit based on the route path determined. The vertical-to-horizontal dimension routing and horizontal-to-vertical dimension routing are relative to the 2D coordinate system. The mixed-dimension order routing method prevents deadlock and congestion that otherwise degrade performance of the circuit.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a switch processing method, a controller, a switch, and a switch processing system. The method provided by the embodiments of the present invention is executed by the controller and a logical Switch, where the logical Switch includes at least two physical Switches. The method includes: allocating, by the controller, a flow table of the logical Switch to each physical Switch; sending, by the controller, mapping information, so that each physical Switch obtains the mapping information; and sending, by the controller, flow entries, so that each physical Switch obtains flow entries corresponding to each physical switch and processes a data packet. For the logical Switch for executing the method provided by the embodiments of the present invention, new physical Switches may be stacked on a basis of a physical structure of the logical Switch.

Examples disclosed herein relate to a grace link state advertisement (LSA) from a virtual stack device. In an example, a first member network device of a virtual stack device may an input from a Multi-Active Detection (MAD) device. The virtual stack device may be a logical network device comprising the first member network device and a second member network device. Based on the input from the MAD device, the first member network device may determine whether a grace link state advertisement (LSA) is to be sent to a neighbor Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) enabled router by the first member network device, wherein the neighbor OSPF enabled router is an OSPF neighbor to the virtual stack device.

A method for assigning identifiers to switches in a stack includes detecting, by a switch, a terminal identifier stored in an optical module that is connected to a stack port of the switch, where the optical module is at one end of an optical cable; and if a condition is met, assigning, by the switch, identifiers to N stackable switches along a direction starting from the switch to another switch connected to the stack port, where the condition includes: a value of the terminal identifier is a specified value, and N is greater than or equal to 2. According to this application, an efficiency of assigning the identifiers to the switches in a stack can be improved.