| US 7,580,417 B2 | ||
| Method and apparatus for load balancing over virtual network links | ||
| Jimmy Ervin, Raleigh, N.C. (US); Mike Takefman, Nepean (Canada); Praveen Bhagwatula, Cary, N.C. (US); James Alexander, Raleigh, N.C. (US); and Steven Faulkner, Cary, N.C. (US) | ||
| Assigned to Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, Calif. (US) | ||
| Filed on Aug. 07, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/500,732. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2008/0031263 A1, Feb. 07, 2008 | ||
| Int. Cl. H04L 12/56 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 370—397 | 23 Claims |
| 1. A method for load balancing network traffic over virtual point-to-point data links, comprising the steps of:
determining a particular plurality of virtual point-to-point data links at a data-link layer, wherein the particular plurality
of virtual point-to-point data links traverses a single virtual private network and reaches a particular local area network
of one or more network nodes;
associating a particular data-link address for a particular node of the particular local area network with each virtual point-to-point
data link of the particular plurality of virtual point-to-point data links;
receiving a plurality of data packets that each includes data that indicates the particular data-link address as a destination;
determining a first virtual point-to-point data link of the particular plurality of virtual point-to-point data links for
a first data packet of the plurality of data packets, and a different second virtual point-to-point data link of the particular
plurality of virtual point-to-point data links for a different second data packet of the plurality of data packets to balance
traffic among the particular plurality of virtual point-to-point data links; and
sending the first data packet only over the first virtual point-to-point data link and the second data packet only over the
second virtual point-to-point link.
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