CN109743254B

CN109743254B - Message forwarding method, PE (provider edge) equipment and stacking system

Info

Publication number: CN109743254B
Application number: CN201811593110.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李建萍
Original assignee: Hangzhou H3C Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hangzhou H3C Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-12-25
Filing date: 2018-12-25
Publication date: 2021-06-08
Anticipated expiration: 2038-12-25
Also published as: CN109743254A

Abstract

The invention provides a message forwarding method, PE (provider edge) equipment and a stacking system.A target PE (provider edge) equipment in a transverse stacking group of the stacking system determines a forwarding domain of a message to be forwarded and determines a stacking port which allows the forwarding of the non-unicast message on the equipment when the received message to be forwarded is a non-unicast message and an input port of the received message is an extended port of the target PE equipment; sending a first message comprising a message to be forwarded and a port identifier of an ingress port to CB equipment; sending a second message comprising the message to be forwarded and the identification information of the forwarding domain to other determined PE equipment connected with the stacking port; and forwarding the message to be forwarded from the expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the equipment. Therefore, the pressure of the CB equipment for processing the multicast messages and the broadcast messages can be relieved.

Description

Message forwarding method, PE (provider edge) equipment and stacking system

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a packet forwarding method, a PE device, and a stacking system.

Background

In a stacking system based on an 802.1BR protocol, a CB (control bridge) device and a plurality of stacking groups are included, each stacking group includes a plurality of stacked PE (port extender) devices, and the plurality of PE devices are respectively connected to the CB device.

In the related art, when a received message is a multicast message or a broadcast message, any PE device in a stacking system reports the message to a CB device, and the CB device determines a forwarding domain (i.e., a multicast group or a broadcast group) of the message, and carries identification information of the forwarding domain in the message and sends the message to a corresponding stacking group. Due to the forwarding mode, all multicast messages, broadcast messages and the like received by the PE equipment need to be processed by the CB equipment, so that the processing pressure of the CB equipment is higher.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a message forwarding method, a PE device and a stacking system, so as to at least partially relieve the message processing pressure of a CB device.

In order to achieve the purpose, the following technical scheme is adopted in the disclosure:

in a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for forwarding a packet, where the method includes:

a target PE device in a transverse stacking group of a stacking system receives a message to be forwarded;

if the message to be forwarded is a non-unicast message and the input port of the message to be forwarded is an expansion port of the target PE device, determining a forwarding domain of the message to be forwarded and determining a stacking port which is allowed to forward the non-unicast message on the target PE device; wherein, the non-unicast message comprises a broadcast message or a multicast message;

sending a first message comprising a message to be forwarded and a port identifier of the ingress port to the CB device;

sending a second message comprising the message to be forwarded and the identification information of the forwarding domain to other determined PE equipment connected with the stacking port;

and sending the message to be forwarded from the expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the target PE equipment.

In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a PE device in a lateral stacking group of a stacking system, the PE device comprising:

the message receiving module is used for receiving a message to be forwarded; determining a forwarding domain of the message to be forwarded and determining a stacking port on the PE equipment, which allows the forwarding of the non-unicast message, under the condition that the message to be forwarded is a non-unicast message and an input port of the message to be forwarded is an expansion port of the PE equipment; wherein, the non-unicast message comprises a broadcast message or a multicast message;

the message forwarding module is used for sending a first message comprising a message to be forwarded and the port identifier of the input port to the CB device; sending a second message comprising the message to be forwarded and the identification information of the forwarding domain from the determined stacking port; and sending the message to be forwarded from the expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the PE equipment.

In a third aspect, the present disclosure provides a stacking system, including a CB device and a plurality of transverse stacking groups, where each transverse stacking group includes a plurality of stacked PE devices, and the plurality of PE devices are respectively connected to the CB device;

when any target PE device in the stacking system receives a message to be forwarded, which is a non-unicast message and the input port of which is an expansion port of the target PE device, determining a forwarding domain of the message to be forwarded and determining a stacking port which allows the non-unicast message to be forwarded on the target PE device;

the target PE equipment sends a first message comprising a message to be forwarded and a port identifier of the input port to the CB equipment; sending a second message comprising the message to be forwarded and the identification information of the forwarding domain to other determined PE equipment connected with the stacking port; sending a message to be forwarded from an expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the equipment;

when the CB equipment receives the first message, determining a forwarding domain of the first message and determining a forwarding outlet of the first message in the CB equipment; adding the determined identification information of the forwarding domain into the first message to obtain a third message; and forwarding the third message from other forwarding outlets except the aggregation port of the transverse stacking group connected with the target PE device in the determined forwarding outlets.

Compared with the prior art, the present disclosure includes the following beneficial effects:

when a received message to be forwarded is a non-unicast message and an ingress port is an extended port of the target PE device, determining a forwarding domain of the message to be forwarded and determining a stacking port on the device, which allows forwarding of the non-unicast message, of the target PE device in a transverse stacking group of the stacking system; the non-unicast message comprises a multicast message or a broadcast message. The target PE equipment sends a first message comprising a message to be forwarded and a port identifier of an input port to the CB equipment; sending a second message comprising the message to be forwarded and the identification information of the forwarding domain to other determined PE equipment connected with the stacking port; and forwarding the message to be forwarded from the expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the equipment. Therefore, the forwarding of the non-unicast message is completed in the transverse stacking group as much as possible, and the processing pressure of the CB equipment is reduced.

Drawings

To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the present disclosure, the drawings needed for the embodiments will be briefly described below, it should be understood that the following drawings only illustrate some embodiments of the present disclosure, and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope, and those skilled in the art can also obtain other related drawings based on the drawings without inventive efforts.

Fig. 1 is a connection block diagram of a stacking system provided by the present disclosure;

fig. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a message forwarding method according to the present disclosure;

fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a publicly provided message forwarding method;

fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of a message forwarding method provided by the present disclosure;

fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a message forwarding method provided by the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is a functional block diagram of a PE device according to the present disclosure.

Icon: 10-a stacking system; 11-CB equipment; 12. 13-transverse stacking group; 121. 122, 123, 131, 132-PE devices; 1211-message receiving module; 1212-message forwarding module; 1213-message processing module.

Detailed Description

To make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure more clear, the technical solutions of the present disclosure will be described clearly and completely below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the present disclosure, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all embodiments of the present disclosure. The components of the present disclosure, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.

Thus, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, presented in the figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed disclosure, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of the disclosure. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments disclosed herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

It should be noted that: like reference numbers and letters refer to like items in the following figures, and thus, once an item is defined in one figure, it need not be further defined and explained in subsequent figures.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an architecture of a stacking system 10 based on an 802.1BR protocol according to the present disclosure, where the stacking system 10 includes a CB device 11 and a plurality of lateral stacking groups, such as 12 and 13 shown in fig. 1.

Each lateral stacking group includes a plurality of stacked PE devices, and the CB device 11 is connected to Upstream ports (Upstream ports) of the plurality of PE devices through a plurality of cascade ports, respectively. Wherein, the plurality of cascade ports form an aggregation port. For example, the transverse stacking group 12 includes stacked

PE devices

121, 122, and 123, the PE device 121 is connected to one of the cascade ports of the CB device 11 through the upstream port P7, the PE device 122 is connected to one of the cascade ports of the CB device 11 through the upstream port P8, the PE device 123 is connected to one of the cascade ports of the CB device 11 through the upstream port P9, and the cascade ports of the CB device 11, to which the

PE devices

121, 122, and 123 are respectively connected, form an aggregation port a 1.

For another example, the transverse stacking group 13 includes stacked PE devices 131 and PE devices 132, the PE device 131 is connected to one of the cascade ports of the CB device 11 through the upstream port P10, the PE device 132 is connected to one of the cascade ports of the CB device 11 through the upstream port P11, and the aggregate port a2 is formed by the cascade ports of the CB device 11, to which the

PE devices

131 and 132 are connected, respectively.

In this embodiment, each PE device is connected to a user side device through an expansion port (ExtendPort), a Virtual Machine (VM) runs on the user side device, and the VM can access an ethernet port of the user side device through a virtual switch (vSwitch), and is further connected to the expansion port of the PE device through the ethernet port. Alternatively, the user-side device may be a server or a host.

For example, the PE device 121 is connected to the ethernet port eth1 of the server S1 through the expansion port P1, and is connected to the ethernet port eth2 of the server S2 through the expansion port P2. The server S1 runs with VM1-1 and VM1-2 accessing Ethernet port eth1 via vSwitch, and the server S2 runs with VM2-1 and VM2-2 accessing Ethernet port eth2 via vSwitch. The PE device 122 is connected to the ethernet port eth3 of the server S3 through the expansion port P3, and the server S3 runs the VM3-1 and the VM3-2 that access the ethernet port eth3 via the vSwitch. The PE device 123 is connected to the ethernet port eth4 of the server S4 through the expansion port P4, and the server S4 runs the VM4-1 and the VM4-2 that access the ethernet port eth4 via the vSwitch. For another example, the PE device 131 is connected to the ethernet port eth5 of the server S5 through the expansion port P5, and the server S5 runs the VM5-1 and the VM5-2 that access the ethernet port eth5 via vSwitch; the PE device 132 is connected to the ethernet port eth6 of the server S6 through the expansion port P6, and the server S6 runs on a VM6-1 that accesses the ethernet port eth6 via vSwitch.

Alternatively, the CB device 11 may be connected to the ethernet port eth7 of the local server S7 through the cascade port P12, wherein the local server S7 runs the VM7-1 and the VM7-2 accessing the ethernet port eth7 via vSwitch.

Alternatively, in the present embodiment, the stacking system 10 may be an IRF (intelligent resilient framework) 3.0 system, and the lateral stacking group may be an IRF2.0 system.

Referring to fig. 2, it is a schematic flow chart of a packet forwarding method applied to the stacking system 10 shown in fig. 1 according to the present disclosure, and the following describes various steps included in the method.

In step S21, the target PE device in the horizontal stacking group of the stacking system 10 receives the message to be forwarded.

The PE device that arbitrarily receives the packet to be forwarded in the stacking system 10 is defined as a target PE device.

Step S22, if the to-be-forwarded message is a non-unicast message and the ingress port of the to-be-forwarded message is an extension port of the target PE device, determining a forwarding domain of the to-be-forwarded message and determining a stack port on the target PE device, which allows forwarding the non-unicast message.

The input port of the message to be forwarded refers to a port through which the message to be forwarded enters the target PE device. The non-unicast message includes a broadcast message or a multicast message. In the implementation process, the type of the message to be forwarded may be determined according to a destination MAC (media Control access, media access Control) Address of the message to be forwarded, for example, when the destination MAC Address is a broadcast Address, the message to be forwarded may be determined to be a broadcast message; when the destination MAC address is a multicast address, it may be determined that the packet to be forwarded is a multicast packet.

In the stacked system 10, the CB device 11 may assign a group identification to each multicast group and broadcast group, for example: multicast ECID and broadcast ECID. For each PE device connected to the CB device 11, the CB device 11 may generate a broadcast forwarding table or a multicast forwarding table for the PE device, where: a correspondence of group identification (multicast ECID or broadcast ECID) to forwarding domain; the corresponding relation between the ECID of the member port belonging to a certain forwarding domain on the PE equipment and the ECID of the forwarding domain; and a stack port on the PE device participating in forwarding. The CB device 11 may issue the broadcast forwarding table or the multicast forwarding table to the PE device.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the target PE device may determine, according to the stored broadcast forwarding table or multicast forwarding table, a stack port on the device, which is allowed to forward the non-unicast packet. The forwarding domain of the message to be forwarded can be determined through the following processes: if the message to be forwarded is a multicast message, the forwarding domain is a multicast group. The target PE device can determine the broadcast ECID of the broadcast group to which the message to be forwarded belongs according to the VLAN label carried by the message to be forwarded. If the message to be forwarded is a broadcast message, the forwarding domain is a broadcast group. The target PE device may determine the multicast ECID of the multicast group to which the packet to be forwarded belongs according to the destination MAC address (e.g., multicast MAC address) of the packet to be forwarded and the VLAN tag carried thereby.

Step S23, sending the first packet including the packet to be forwarded and the port identifier of the ingress port to the CB device.

The port identifier of the ingress port may be an ECID (E-Channel identifier) assigned to the ingress port by the CB device 11.

Step S24, sending the second packet including the packet to be forwarded and the identification information of the forwarding domain to the other PE devices connected to the determined stack port.

If the message to be forwarded is a multicast message, the identification information of the forwarding domain is multicast ECID; and if the message to be forwarded is a broadcast message, the identification information of the forwarding domain is broadcast ECID.

In this embodiment, the packet forwarding method may further include the steps shown in fig. 3.

Step S31, add the port id of the ingress port to the VID field of the packet to be forwarded, so as to obtain the first packet.

In implementation, the target PE device usually adds an 802.1BR protocol message TAG header E-TAG to the message to be forwarded, and sets a port identifier (i.e., source port ECID) of an ingress port in a VID field of the E-TAG, thereby obtaining the first message.

Step S32, copy the first packet, move the port id of the ingress port from the VID field to the SVID field of the copied first packet, and set the identification information of the forwarding field in the SVID field to obtain the second packet.

One first packet may be copied to the determined stacking port, and each copied first packet may be processed according to step S32.

In practical applications, when sending a message, a PE device usually modifies the VID field of the E-TAG to the ECID of the message at the ingress port of the device, and if the port identifier of the first message at the ingress port of the stacking system 10 is recorded in the VID field, the VID field is covered when the message passes through other PE devices. Therefore, in this embodiment, the port identification of the ingress port is moved from the VID field to the SVID field. Wherein, the VID field and the SVID field are both fields in the E-TAG.

Step S25, sending the packet to be forwarded from the extension port belonging to the forwarding domain on the target PE device.

In an embodiment, a copy of the first packet may be respectively copied for each expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the target PE device, and the copied first packet may be forwarded from each expansion port. For each expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain, whether the expansion port and the ingress port are the same port can be judged, and if yes, the first message copied for the expansion port is discarded; if not, removing the E-TAG of the first message copied for the expansion port to obtain the message to be forwarded, and sending the obtained message to be forwarded through the expansion port.

In another embodiment, a to-be-forwarded packet may be copied for each expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the target PE device, and the copied to-be-forwarded packet may be forwarded from each expansion port. Correspondingly, for each expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain, whether the expansion port and the ingress port are the same port can be judged, and if yes, the message to be forwarded copied for the expansion port is discarded; if not, forwarding the message to be forwarded copied for the expansion port from the expansion port.

It should be understood that, in the present embodiment, there is no limitation on the execution order of step S23, step S24, and step S25.

Referring to fig. 4, in this embodiment, the message forwarding method may further include step S46.

Step S46, when receiving the first packet, the CB device 11 determines a forwarding domain of the first packet, and determines a forwarding exit of the first packet in the CB device 11; adding the identification information of the forwarding domain into the first message to obtain a third message; and forwarding the third message from other forwarding outlets except the aggregation port of the transverse stacking group where the connection target PE device is located in the determined forwarding outlets.

In this embodiment, the way in which the CB device 11 determines the forwarding domain of the first packet is similar to the way in which the target PE device determines the forwarding domain of the packet to be forwarded. For example, if the first message is a multicast message, determining a multicast group to which the first message belongs according to a VLAN tag and a multicast MAC address carried by the first message; and if the first message is a broadcast message, determining a broadcast group to which the first message belongs according to the VLAN label carried by the first message.

After determining the forwarding domain of the first packet, the CB device 11 moves the port identifier of the ingress port from the VID field to the SVID field of the first packet, and sets the identifier information of the determined forwarding domain in the VID field, so as to obtain a third packet. It should be noted that the content of the third packet is consistent with the content of the second packet, and the difference is that the second packet is generated by the target PE device, and the third packet is generated by the CB device 11.

In this embodiment, the CB device 11 may perform table lookup according to the destination MAC address (multicast MAC address or broadcast MAC address) in the first message to determine the forwarding exit. The determined forwarding outlets may include a cascade port or an aggregation port, wherein the cascade port is usually connected to a local user-side device; the aggregation port is generally connected to the transverse stacking group, and the aggregation port may include a plurality of cascade ports, and the plurality of cascade ports are connected to the upstream ports of the plurality of PE devices in the transverse stacking group in a one-to-one correspondence.

Referring to fig. 4 again, optionally, the message forwarding method provided in this embodiment may further include step S47.

Step S47, the other PE devices receiving the second message determine the forwarding domain of the first message according to the identification information of the forwarding domain carried in the second message, and determine the stacking port on the device allowing to forward the non-unicast message; forwarding the second message from the stack ports except the input port; and forwarding the second message from the expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the equipment.

In step S47, the other PE devices are typically PE devices in the lateral stacking group in which the target PE device is located. In implementation, other PE devices may determine a stacking port that is allowed to forward a non-unicast packet according to a stored broadcast forwarding table or multicast forwarding table. The other PE devices may copy one second packet for each of the determined stacking ports except for the ingress port (i.e., the stacking port that receives the second packet), and forward the copied second packet to the PE device connected to the stacking port.

Because the second packet sent by the target PE device to the other PE device already carries the identification information of the forwarding domain, that is, the multicast ECID or the broadcast ECID, the other PE device can directly determine the forwarding domain to which the second packet belongs according to the identification information of the forwarding domain. In this embodiment, the other PE devices may copy one second packet for each expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the device, and may determine, for each expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain, whether a port indicated by a port identifier of an ingress port recorded in the SVID field of the expansion port and the second packet is the same port; if not, removing the E-TAG in the second message copied for the expansion port to obtain the message to be forwarded, and forwarding the obtained message to be forwarded from the expansion port; and if the port is the same, discarding the second message copied for the expansion port.

In some embodiments, the target PE device may also receive the second packet as the other PE device, in this case, the packet to be forwarded received by the target PE device is a non-unicast packet and the ingress port of the packet to be forwarded is the stack port of the target PE device, and at this time, the target PE device may refer to S47 to forward the packet to be forwarded.

Optionally, referring to fig. 5, the message forwarding method provided in this embodiment may further include step S58.

Step S58, determining, by the other PE devices that receive the third packet, a forwarding domain of the third packet according to the identification information of the forwarding domain carried in the first packet, and determining a stack port on the device that allows forwarding of a non-unicast packet; forwarding the third message from the determined stacking port; and forwarding the third message from the expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the equipment.

In step S58, the other PE device may be a PE device in another lateral stacking group different from the lateral stacking group in which the target PE device is located. For example, referring back to fig. 1, if the target PE device is PE device 121 in the lateral stacking group 12, the other PE devices in step S58 may be any PE device in the lateral stacking group 13.

In this step, the manner of determining, by the other PE devices, the stacking port on the device that allows forwarding the non-unicast packet is similar to that of the target PE device, and details are not described here again. Since the other PE devices receive the third packet from the upstream port, one copy of the third packet may be copied for each determined stacking port and the copied third packet may be forwarded from the stacking port.

In this step, the process of determining the forwarding domain of the third packet and forwarding the third packet from the expansion port is similar to step S47, and is not described herein again.

In some embodiments, the target PE device may receive the third packet as another PE device, in this case, the packet to be forwarded received by the target PE device is a non-unicast packet and the ingress port of the packet to be forwarded is the uplink port of the target PE device, and at this time, the target PE device may refer to step S58 to forward the packet to be forwarded.

Referring back to fig. 1, a specific example will be given below with reference to fig. 1, so that those skilled in the art can better understand the message forwarding method provided in the present disclosure.

Suppose that 3 VXLAN services, VXLAN10, VXLAN20, and VXLAN 30, are configured on the CB device 11, where VXLAN10 is associated with VSIvpna, VXLAN20 is associated with VSIvpnb, and VXLAN 30 is associated with VSIvpnc. The CB device 11 assigns a multicast ECID1 to VXLAN10, a multicast ECID2 to VXLAN20, and a multicast ECID3 to VXLAN 30, and issues the multicast ECIDs of the 3 VXLAN services to the PE devices connected to the CB device 11.

In addition, the CB device 11 generates a broadcast forwarding table (or a multicast forwarding table) for each connected PE device, where the broadcast forwarding table records stack ports on the PE device that are allowed to forward broadcast messages and multicast messages, and an expansion port on the PE device corresponding to the multicast ECID1, an expansion port corresponding to the multicast ECID2, and an expansion port corresponding to the multicast ECID 3.

An AC (access circuit) for VXLAN 10-30 is configured on each PE device of stacking system 10, the AC being an ethernet service instance on the PE device, where a series of matching rules, such as VLAN tags, are defined. When the PE device receives a packet matching a matching rule configured on an AC, the PE device may map the packet to a VSI associated with the AC, that is: to the VXLAN associated with the VSI.

In this example, a service access point AC1 of VXLAN10 is arranged on an expansion port P1 of PE device 121, and a service access point AC2 of VXLAN10 is arranged on an expansion port P2; service access point AC3 of VXLAN20 configured on port P3 of PE device 122; a service access point AC4 of VXLAN20 is configured on an expansion port P4 of PE device 123; a service access point AC5 of VXLAN10 is configured on expansion port P5 of PE device 131; a service access point AC6 of VXLAN 30 is arranged on expansion port P6 of PE device 132. A service access point AC7 of VXLAN10 is arranged at the tandem port P12 of the CB device 11. The cascade port 12 is connected to a local server S7, and a VM7-1 runs on the S7.

In the foregoing architecture, the packet forwarding method provided by the present disclosure may include the following steps:

firstly, it is assumed that the PE device 121 in the transverse stacking group 12 receives the multicast packet D1 through the extension port P1, and determines that the VLAN tag and the multicast MAC address carried in the multicast packet D1 match the matching rule set in the AC1, so that it is determined that the multicast packet D1 belongs to VXLAN10, and further determines that the group identifier of the multicast group to which the multicast packet D1 belongs is ECID 1; and determining, according to the stored multicast forwarding table, that the stacking port on the PE device 121 that allows forwarding the non-unicast packet is a stacking port connected to the PE device 122.

The PE device 121 may serve as a target PE device in this embodiment, and the multicast packet D1 may serve as a packet to be forwarded.

Secondly, the PE device 121 adds an E-TAG to the multicast message D1, and sets the ECID of the expansion port P1 in the VID field of the added E-TAG, so as to obtain the first message D2.

Thirdly, the first message D2 is copied for the determined stack port and the expansion port (P1 and P2) corresponding to the group identifier ECID1 on the PE device 121, the ECID of the expansion port P1 is moved from the VID field to the SVID field of the copied first message D2, and the ECID1 is set in the SVID field, so as to obtain the second message D3.

Fourth, the PE device 121 sends the first packet D2 to the CB device 11 from the upstream port P7.

Fifth, the PE device 121 sends a second message D3 from the determined stacking port.

Sixthly, for the expansion port P1, because the port is the same as the port indicated by the port identifier recorded in the SVID field of the copied second packet D3, the second packet D3 copied for the expansion port P1 is discarded; for the expansion port P2, since it is different from the port indicated by the port identifier recorded in the SVID field of the copied second packet D3, the E-TAG in the second packet D3 copied for the expansion port P2 is removed, so as to obtain the multicast packet D1, and the obtained multicast packet D1 is sent from the expansion port D3.

Seventh, when the PE device 122 receives the second packet D3 through the stack port, it identifies the multicast ECID1 recorded in the VID field, and determines that there is no extension port corresponding to the multicast ECID1 on the device; and determining that the stacking ports allowing to forward the non-unicast message on the device comprise the stacking port connected with the PE device 123 and the stacking port connected with the PE device 121 according to the stored multicast forwarding table.

Eighth, since the PE device 122 receives the second packet D3 from the stack port connected to the PE device 121, the PE device 121 forwards the second packet D3 from the stack port connected to the PE device 123.

Ninth, when the PE device 123 receives the second packet D3 through the stack port, it identifies the multicast ECID1 recorded in its VID field, determines that the extension port on the device corresponding to the multicast ECID1 is P4, and determines, according to the stored multicast forwarding table, that there is no stack port on the device that allows forwarding of non-unicast packets; therefore, the E-TAG in the second message D3 is removed to obtain the multicast message D1, and the obtained multicast message D1 is sent from the expansion port P4.

Tenth, the CB device 11 receives the first packet D2, determines the multicast ECID1 of the multicast group to which the first packet D2 belongs according to the VLAN tag and the multicast MAC address carried by the first packet D2, moves the information (the port identifier of the ingress port P1) recorded in the VID field of the first packet D2 to the SVID field, and sets the ECID1 in the VID field to obtain a third packet D4.

Eleventh, the CB device 11 determines a forwarding outlet of the first packet D2 according to a table lookup of multicast MAC addresses in the first packet D2, where the determined forwarding outlet includes an aggregation port a1, an aggregation port a2, and a cascade port P12 connected to the local server S7.

Twelfth, the CB device 11 determines that the cascade port connected to the PE device 121 belongs to the aggregation port a1, so that the third packet D4 is forwarded from the aggregation port a2 and the cascade port P12. The CB device 11 may store a hash table of the aggregation port a2, where the hash table includes hash values of each member port (cascade port) of the aggregation port a 2. When the third packet D4 is forwarded through the aggregation port a2, a hash may be performed based on the third packet D4, and the third packet D4 may be forwarded from the member port corresponding to the obtained hash value.

In other words, one of the PE device 131 and the PE device 132 receives the third packet D4 sent by the CB device 11. Assume here that PE device 131 receives third message D4.

Thirteenth, when receiving the third packet D4, the PE device 131 determines that the stacking port on the device that allows forwarding the non-unicast packet is the stacking port connected to the PE device 132; and determining that the expansion port corresponding to the multicast ECID1 recorded in the VID field of the third message D4 on the device is P5. Namely: the extension port P5 belongs to the multicast group represented by the multicast ECID 1.

Fourteenth, the PE device 131 copies one third packet D4 for each determined stacking port, and forwards the copied third packet D4 from the stacking port; determining that the port indicated by the port identifier recorded in the SVID field of the extension port P5 and the third packet D4 (i.e., P1) is different, so as to remove the E-TAG of the third packet D4, obtain a multicast packet D1, and forward the obtained multicast packet D1 from the extension port P5.

Fifteenth, when receiving the third packet D4 through the stack port, the PE device 132 determines that there is no stack port on the device that allows forwarding the non-unicast packet; determining that no expansion port corresponding to the multicast ECID1 recorded in the VID field of the third message D4 exists on the device; therefore, the third message D4 is discarded.

As shown in fig. 1, in the prior art, when the PE device 121 receives a packet to be forwarded through an expansion port, the packet to be forwarded is directly forwarded to the CB device 11 along a path L1, and then the CB device 11 issues the packet to which the multicast ECID is added to the transverse stack group 12 through a path L2, for example, and issues the packet to which the multicast ECID is added to the transverse stack group 13 through a path L3, for example. Therefore, in the prior art, the messages to be forwarded are transmitted twice between the CB device 11 and the transverse stacking group 12, which results in bandwidth waste on one hand, and on the other hand, all the forwarding of the multicast messages and the broadcast messages needs to be processed by the CB device 11, which results in a large processing pressure. By the message forwarding method disclosed by the invention, the waste of bandwidth can be avoided, and the processing pressure of the CB device 11 can be reduced.

It should be understood that, in other examples, the CB device 11 may also allocate a multicast ECID or a broadcast ECID for the VLAN service, in which case, the forwarding procedure for the multicast packet or the broadcast packet is similar to the above-mentioned procedure, and is not described herein again.

Referring to fig. 6, a functional block diagram of a PE device 121 is shown as an example. The PE device 121 includes a message receiving module 1211 and a message processing module 1212.

The message receiving module 1211 is configured to: receiving a message to be forwarded; determining a forwarding domain of the message to be forwarded and determining a stacking port on the PE device 121, which allows forwarding of the non-unicast message, when the message to be forwarded is a non-unicast message and an ingress port of the message to be forwarded is an extension port of the PE device 121; wherein the non-unicast message comprises a broadcast message or a multicast message.

In the present embodiment, the message receiving module 1211 may perform the steps S21 and S22, and the detailed description of the message receiving module 1211 may refer to the detailed description of the steps S21 and S22.

The message forwarding module 1212 is configured to: sending a first message including the message to be forwarded and the port identifier of the ingress port to the CB device 11; sending a second message comprising a message to be forwarded and the identification information of the forwarding domain from the determined stacking port; and sending the message to be forwarded from the expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the PE device 121.

In this embodiment, the message forwarding module 1212 may perform steps S23-S25, and the detailed description of steps S23-S25 may be referred to for the description of the message forwarding module 1212.

In this embodiment, the message receiving module 1211 and the message processing module 1212 may be executed by a forwarding chip on the PE device 121, or may be executed by a processor (CPU) of the PE device 121.

Optionally, the message receiving module 1211 may be further configured to: and under the condition that the message to be forwarded is a non-unicast message and the input port of the message to be forwarded is the stacking port of the PE device 121, determining a forwarding domain of the message to be forwarded according to the identification information of the forwarding domain carried in the message to be forwarded, and determining a stacking port of the PE device 121, which allows forwarding of the non-unicast message.

The message forwarding module 1212 may be further configured to: forwarding the message to be forwarded from the expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the PE device 121; and forwarding the message to be forwarded from the stack ports except the input port.

Optionally, the message receiving module 1211 may be further configured to: and under the condition that the message to be forwarded is a non-unicast message and the input port of the message to be forwarded is the uplink port of the PE device 121, determining a forwarding domain of the message to be forwarded according to the identification information of the forwarding domain carried in the message to be forwarded, and determining a stacking port on the PE device 121, which allows forwarding of the non-unicast message.

The message forwarding module 1212 may be further configured to: forwarding the message to be forwarded from the expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the PE device 121; and forwarding the message to be forwarded from the determined stacking port.

Optionally, the packet forwarding module 1212 may forward the packet to be forwarded from the expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the PE device 121 in the following manner: for each expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain, determining whether an ingress port of the packet to be forwarded in the stacking system 10 and the expansion port are the same port; if not, the message to be forwarded is forwarded from the expansion port.

Optionally, in this embodiment, the PE device 121 may further include a message processing module 1213.

The message processing module 1213 is configured to add the port identifier of the ingress port to the VID field of the message to be forwarded, so as to obtain the first message; copying the first message, moving the port identification of the ingress port from the VID field to the SVID field of the copied first message, and setting the identification information of the forwarding domain in the SVID field to obtain the second message.

In summary, the present disclosure provides a message forwarding method, a PE device, and a stacking system, where a target PE device in a transverse stacking group of the stacking system determines a forwarding domain of a to-be-forwarded message and determines a stacking port on the device, which allows forwarding a non-unicast message, when receiving the to-be-forwarded message that is a non-unicast message and an ingress port of the to-be-forwarded message is an extension port of the target PE device; the non-unicast message comprises a multicast message or a broadcast message. The target PE equipment sends a first message comprising a message to be forwarded and a port identifier of an input port to the CB equipment; sending a second message comprising the message to be forwarded and the identification information of the forwarding domain to other determined PE equipment connected with the stacking port; and forwarding the message to be forwarded from the expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the equipment. Therefore, the forwarding of the non-unicast message is completed in the transverse stacking group as much as possible, and the processing pressure of the CB equipment is reduced.

In the embodiments provided in the present disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. The embodiments described above are merely illustrative, and the flowcharts and block diagrams in the figures, for example, illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of apparatus, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems which perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

In addition, functional modules in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be integrated together to form an independent part, or each module may exist separately, or two or more modules may be integrated to form an independent part.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional modules and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present disclosure may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and other various media capable of storing program codes.

It is noted that, herein, relational terms such as first and second, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Also, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present disclosure, but the scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present disclosure, and all the changes or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the protection scope of the present disclosure shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A message forwarding method is characterized in that the method comprises the following steps:

a target port expansion PE device in a transverse stacking group of a stacking system receives a message to be forwarded;

if the message to be forwarded is a non-unicast message and the input port of the message to be forwarded is an expansion port of the target PE device, determining a forwarding domain of the message to be forwarded and determining a stacking port which is allowed to forward the non-unicast message on the target PE device; wherein the non-unicast message comprises a broadcast message or a multicast message;

sending a first message comprising the message to be forwarded and the port identifier of the input port to a Control Bridge (CB) device;

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the message to be forwarded is a non-unicast message and the input port of the message to be forwarded is the stacking port of the target PE device, determining a forwarding domain of the message to be forwarded according to identification information of the forwarding domain carried in the message to be forwarded and determining a stacking port which is allowed to forward the non-unicast message on the target PE device;

forwarding the message to be forwarded from the expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the target PE equipment;

and forwarding the message to be forwarded from the stack ports except the input port.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the message to be forwarded is a non-unicast message and the input port of the message to be forwarded is the uplink port of the target PE device, determining a forwarding domain of the message to be forwarded according to identification information of the forwarding domain carried in the message to be forwarded and determining a stacking port which is allowed to forward the non-unicast message on the target PE device;

and forwarding the message to be forwarded from the determined stacking port.

4. The method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein forwarding the packet to be forwarded from the extension port belonging to the forwarding domain on the target PE device comprises:

for each expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain, judging whether the message to be forwarded is at the input port of the stacking system and the expansion port are the same port;

and if the ports are not the same, forwarding the message to be forwarded from the expansion port.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, further comprising:

adding the port identification of the ingress port to the VID field of the message to be forwarded to obtain the first message;

copying the first message, moving the port identification of the ingress port from the VID field of the copied first message to the SVID field, and setting the identification information of the forwarding domain in the SVID field to obtain the second message.

6. A port expansion PE device in a lateral stacking group of a stacking system, the PE device comprising:

the message receiving module is used for receiving a message to be forwarded; determining a forwarding domain of the message to be forwarded and determining a stacking port on the PE device, which allows forwarding of the non-unicast message, under the condition that the message to be forwarded is a non-unicast message and an input port of the message to be forwarded is an expansion port of the PE device; wherein the non-unicast message comprises a broadcast message or a multicast message;

the message forwarding module is used for sending a first message comprising the message to be forwarded and the port identifier of the input port to the control bridge CB device; sending a second message comprising the message to be forwarded and the identification information of the forwarding domain from the determined stacking port; and sending the message to be forwarded from the expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the PE equipment.

7. The PE device of claim 6,

the message receiving module is further configured to determine a forwarding domain of the to-be-forwarded message according to identification information of the forwarding domain carried in the to-be-forwarded message and determine a stacking port on the PE device, where the to-be-forwarded message is a non-unicast message and an ingress port of the to-be-forwarded message is a stacking port of the PE device;

the message forwarding module is further configured to forward the message to be forwarded from an expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the PE device; and forwarding the message to be forwarded from the stack ports except the input port.

8. The PE device of claim 6,

the message receiving module is further configured to determine a forwarding domain of the to-be-forwarded message according to identification information of the forwarding domain carried in the to-be-forwarded message and determine a stacking port on the PE device, where the to-be-forwarded message is a non-unicast message and an ingress port of the to-be-forwarded message is an upstream port of the PE device;

the message forwarding module is further configured to forward the message to be forwarded from an expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the PE device; and forwarding the message to be forwarded from the determined stacking port.

9. The PE device of any of claims 6-8, wherein the packet forwarding module forwards the packet to be forwarded from the expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the PE device by:

for each expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain, judging whether the message to be forwarded is at the input port of the stacking system and the expansion port are the same port; and if the ports are not the same, forwarding the message to be forwarded from the expansion port.

10. The PE device of any of claims 6-8, further comprising:

a message processing module, configured to: adding the port identification of the ingress port to the VID field of the message to be forwarded to obtain the first message; copying the first message, moving the port identification of the ingress port from the VID field of the copied first message to the SVID field, and setting the identification information of the forwarding domain in the SVID field to obtain the second message.

11. A stacking system is characterized by comprising control bridge CB equipment and a plurality of transverse stacking groups, wherein each transverse stacking group comprises a plurality of stacked port expansion PE equipment, and the plurality of PE equipment are respectively connected with the CB equipment;

the target PE equipment sends a first message comprising the message to be forwarded and the port identification of the input port to the CB equipment; sending a second message comprising the message to be forwarded and the identification information of the forwarding domain to other determined PE equipment connected with the stacking port; sending the message to be forwarded from an expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the device;

when the CB equipment receives the first message, determining the forwarding domain of the first message and determining the forwarding outlet of the first message at the CB equipment; adding the identification information of the forwarding domain into the first message to obtain a third message; and forwarding the third message from other forwarding outlets except the aggregation outlet connected with the transverse stacking group where the target PE device is located.

12. The stacking system of claim 11,

other PE equipment which receives the second message determines the forwarding domain of the first message according to the identification information of the forwarding domain carried in the second message, and determines a stacking port which allows the equipment to forward the non-unicast message; forwarding the second message from an expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the equipment; and forwarding the second message from the stack ports except the input port in the determined stack ports.

13. Stacking system according to claim 11 or 12,

other PE equipment which receives the third message determines a forwarding domain of the first message according to the identification information of the forwarding domain carried in the first message, and determines a stacking port which allows the equipment to forward non-unicast messages; forwarding the first message from an expansion port belonging to the forwarding domain on the PE equipment; and forwarding the third message from the determined stacking port.