Ciena Corporation
Routing tables for forwarding packets between switches in a data center network

Abstract:

Systems and methods for building routing tables for use in a data center network are provided. A switch is arranged in a network environment having a plurality of switches. The switch includes a plurality of inward-directed ports configured for direct connection with a plurality of servers and a plurality of outward-directed ports configured for direct connection with a subset of the plurality of switches. The switch also includes a processor configured to generate a Routing Table (RT) in an RT build process and to create a Forwarding Table (FT) for forwarding packets when the RT build process is complete. The outward-directed ports are configured to forward packets to one or more switches of the subset of switches according to the RT. The FT includes at least a Shortest Path (SP) route and one or more Off-Shortest Path (OSP) routes for forwarding the packets to the one or more switches.