Claims
- 1. A network router comprising:
a plurality of trunk ports, including a composite port of plural ports to plural trunks which serve as a composite trunk to a common destination; a routing fabric for transfer of data packets between trunk ports; and an output port selector which selects an output port for a packet from a composite port.
- 2. A router as claimed in claim 1 wherein the output port selector balances load across the trunks of a composite trunk.
- 3. A router as claimed in claim 1 wherein the output port selector dynamically balances load across the trunks of a composite trunk.
- 4. A router as claimed in claim 1 wherein the output port selector determines the output port within a composite port by table lookup.
- 5. A method of routing packets in a network comprising:
identifying a destination of the packets; selecting one of plural trunks forming a composite trunk to the destination, and forwarding the packets toward the destination on the selected trunk.
- 6. A method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the trunk is selected to balance load across the trunks of a composite trunk.
- 7. A method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the trunk is selected to dynamically balance load across the trunks of a composite trunk.
- 8. A method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the trunk is selected by a table lookup.
- 9. A method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the destination of the packets is identified from a final destination identifier included in the packet.
- 10. A method as claimed in claim 9 wherein the network is the Internet and the packets are routed under an Internet protocol.
RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/073,842, filed May 6, 1998, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/082,923, filed Apr. 24, 1998, the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60082923 |
Apr 1998 |
US |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09073842 |
May 1998 |
US |
Child |
10021205 |
Dec 2001 |
US |