Load balancing hash computation for network switches

• Main Authors: Roitshtein Amir, Mizrahi Tal
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 22.11.2016
• Subjects: ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHICCOMMUNICATION

Techniques to load balance traffic in a network device or switch include a network device or switch having a first interface to receive a data unit or packet, a second interface to transmit the packet, and a mapper to map between virtual ports and physical ports. The network device includes hash value generator configured to generate a hash value based on information included in the packet and based on at least one virtual port. The hash value may be optionally modified to load balance egress traffic of the network device. The network device selects a particular virtual port for egress of the packet, such as by determining an index into an egress table based on the (modified) hash value. The packet is transmitted from the network device using a physical port mapped to the particular virtual port.