A hierarchical wireless network is provided with a mesh backbone network portion and a switching tree network portion, The mesh backbone network portion includes first tier nodes each having at least one wireless link to another first tier node, The first tier nodes execute a link-state protocol for routing packets, The switching tree network portion includes second tier nodes each having a single wireless link to one first tier node and at least one wireless link to one third tier node, and third tier nodes each having a single wireless link to one second tier node. The second tier and the third tier nodes execute switching rules for switching packets,

A method of setting up a wireless ad hoc network includes constructing an initial network graph by a source device. The network graph represents the source device, at least one intermediate device, and at least one communication path between the source device and the intermediate device. The initial network graph is sent from the source device to the intermediate device along with an update request. The source device receives a second network graph from the intermediate device in response to sending the initial network graph, and determines an updated network graph by performing a union of the initial network graph and the second network graph. The process is performed by each intermediate device required to reach a destination device.

Techniques for reducing broadcast and multicast traffic in a stacking system are provided. In one embodiment, a master device in the stacking system can automatically determine a minimal set of VLAN associations for stacking links in the stacking system. The minimal set of VLAN associations can avoid unnecessary transmission of broadcast or multicast packets through the system's topology.

A routing table is represented as a binary search tree ordered by prefix lengths. Markers are placed to guide accessing nodes in designated subtrees to search for a longest prefix match with destination addresses of data packet. Destination descendant nodes in remote hierarchical levels of the tree are associated with the markers. The traversal of the binary search tree is conducted by accessing the respective destination descendant nodes while avoiding accessing nodes in intermediate hierarchical levels. The packet is processed using the longest prefix match.

A system and method for selecting at least one relay in a communication network; the network comprises a plurality of nodes; each of the nodes comprises at least one processing unit; each pair of the nodes is characterized by a first connection number; a first score is associated with each pair of (i) first first connection number; and (ii) second first connection number; each of the processing unit is programmed to execute the method.

A port number extension method and a switch are provided. A first switch determines bits for identifying the first switch in a Media Access Control (MAC) address in an identifier (ID) of a specified bridge; calculates a bit for port number extension according to the bits for identifying the first switch; and combines the bit for port number extension and original bits for specifying a port, to obtain new bits for specifying a port. In this way, a problem that Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) port numbers are insufficient in a super virtual fabric with a massive quantity of ports is resolved.

Disclosed is a fast recovery method for a Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) based backup port, and the method includes: it is detected that a failure occurs on a port of an STP-based device; and it is determined whether there is a backup port taking a failed port as a master port, and when it is determined that there is such a backup port, said backup port is changed to a master port; further disclosed is a fast recovery device for an STP based backup port. By means of the technical solutions of the disclosure, it is possible to shorten significantly recovery time of a backup port, and improve greatly performance of link recovery.

Circuits, devices, methods for decision feedback equalization are described. A decision feedback circuit can include L N-tap decision feedback equalizer (DFE) branch input lines and an unfolding multiplexer array network. The network is configured to generate at least one unfolded output based on inputs from a subset of the branch input lines and includes a plurality of multiplexer arrays wherein outputs from a first multiplexer array in the plurality of multiplexer arrays are connected to selection lines of a second multiplexer array in the plurality of multiplexer arrays.

In accordance with one example embodiment, there is provided a system configured for virtual local area network (VLAN) blocking on a virtual port channel (vPC) member link to handle discrepant virtual network instance (VNI) to VLAN mappings. In other embodiments, the system can be configured for providing Virtual Switch Interface Discovery Protocol (VDP) and virtual switch enhancements to accommodate discrepant VNI to VLAN mappings. In another example embodiment, an apparatus is provided that includes a processor, and a memory coupled to the processor, where the apparatus is configured such that if a server is connected through a virtual port channel, a VDP is used to notify the server of different VNI to VLAN mappings. In another embodiment, the apparatus can extend a VDP Filter Info Field to carry a set of VLANs mapped to a VNI, keyed by leaf MAC addresses that serve as bridge identifiers.

Presented herein are hybrid approaches to multi-destination traffic forwarding in overlay networks that can be used to facilitate interoperability between head-end-replication-support network devices (i.e., those that only use head-end-replication) and multicast-support network devices (i.e., those that only use native multicast). By generally using existing tunnel end-points (TEPs) supported functionality for sending multi-destination traffic and enhancing the TEPs to receive multi-destination traffic with the encapsulation scheme they do not natively support, the presented methods and systems minimize the required enhancements to achieve interoperability and circumvents any hard limitations that the end-point hardware may have. The present methods and systems may be used with legacy hardware that are commissioned or deployed as well as new hardware that are configured with legacy protocols.