A method and device for realizing automatic stacking of network devices are disclosed. According to an example of the method, when a network device determines its device role, the network device may send a first neighbor discovery message to a neighbor device and receive a second neighbor discovery message sent by the neighbor device. Next, if it determines that a topological structure between the network device and the neighbor device changes according to the second neighbor discovery message, the network device may determine whether a stacking condition to trigger stacking the network device and the neighbor device is satisfied or not. If the stacking condition is satisfied, the network device may further determine a stacking configuration for stacking the network device and the neighbor device. Then the network device may stack the network device with the neighbor device according to the stacking configuration.

This application discloses a packet processing method and an LSR. The method includes: receiving, by an Ingress LSR of a first MPLS tunnel, a first notification packet that is based on an IGP, where the first notification packet includes an ELC flag, which is used to indicate that the first Egress LSR has ELC; after learning from the first notification packet that the first Egress LSR has ELC, inserting a label into a first packet, to generate a second packet, where the label forms an MPLS label stack, which includes, from bottom to top, a first EL, a first ELI, and a first TL; and sending the second packet to the first Egress LSR through the first MPLS tunnel. According to the solutions of this invention, a Transit LSR of the first MPLS tunnel may perform load balancing when forwarding the second packet.

In one embodiment, a copy of an original packet of a traffic flow is created at an ingress leaf node of a cloud switch. The ingress leaf node forwards the original packet along a less-specific path through the cloud switch, the less-specific path based on a domain index of an egress domain for the original packet. The copy of the original packet is modified to create a more specific path learn request packet. The ingress leaf node forwards the more specific path learn request packet along the less-specific path through the cloud switch. The ingress leaf node received back a more specific path learn request reply packet that includes an indication of a fabric system port. The ingress leaf node then programs a forwarding table based on the indication of the fabric system port, to have subsequent packets of the traffic flow forwarded along a more-specific path.

Technologies are provided for distributing intra-network communications evenly across routers in a multi-tier network. Routers in a middle tier of the network receive data transmissions from a router in a lower tier of the network and determine that a destination of the data transmissions is another router in the lower tier of the network. Instead of routing the data transmissions to the destination router directly, the routers in the middle tier of the network route the data transmissions to other routers in a higher tier of the network. The routers in the higher tier of the network then route the data transmissions back to routers in the middle tier of the network, distributing the data transmissions evenly across routers in the middle tier that are connected to the destination router in the lower tier.

A method, an information handling system (IHS) and a switching system for preventing communication loops in an IHS. The method includes identifying, via a controller, at least one stacking port in a first switch of a first chassis. The first switch is in communication with a second switch of a second chassis via a first link. At least one stacking port is configured as an unblocked port. Port blocking and unblocking actions are determined for the at least one stacking port. The at least one stacking port is configured based on the determined port blocking and unblocking actions and a determination is made if the first chassis is a root bridge chassis having at least one uplink port. In response to the first chassis being a root bridge chassis, a first uplink port in the first switch is configured as an unblocked port.

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.

This application discloses a packet processing method and a Label Switching Router (LSR). The method includes receiving, by an Ingress LSR of a first Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) tunnel, a first notification packet that is based on an IGP, where the first notification packet includes an Entropy Label Capability (ELC) flag indicating that the first Egress LSR has ELC. The method further includes, after learning from the first notification packet that the first Egress LSR has ELC, inserting a label into a first packet, to generate a second packet. The label forms an MPLS label stack, which includes, from bottom to top, a first EL, a first ELI, and a first TL. The method further includes sending the second packet to the first Egress LSR through the first MPLS tunnel.

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 system and a method are provided for use in an MPLS network, wherein the system comprises at least one routing element configured to share one or more circuits among multiple Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS) routing protocol instances, wherein each of the multi instances is associated with a unique database, and wherein the at least one routing element comprises a managing entity configured to: manage a plurality of traffic engineering software agents each associated with a respective database, and allocate available resources to respective instances; update at least one of the plurality of databases; and for traffic that is about to be conveyed via a specific instance, determine a neighboring instance through which said traffic will be conveyed, based on information comprised in the database associated with the specific instance through which said traffic will be conveyed.

In one embodiment, a copy of an original packet of a traffic flow is created at an ingress leaf node of a cloud switch. The ingress leaf node forwards the original packet along a less-specific path through the cloud switch, the less-specific path based on a domain index of an egress domain for the original packet. The copy of the original packet is modified to create a more specific path learn request packet. The ingress leaf node forwards the more specific path learn request packet along the less-specific path through the cloud switch. The ingress leaf node received back a more specific path learn request reply packet that includes an indication of a fabric system port. The ingress leaf node then programs a forwarding table based on the indication of the fabric system port, to have subsequent packets of the traffic flow forwarded along a more-specific path.