The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 08, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 18, 1999
RamKrishna Vepa, Danville, CA (US);
Roman Baker, San Jose, CA (US);
Sameer Nanda, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
James Binder, San Jose, CA (US);
Thomas Albert Maufer, Santa Clara, CA (US);
3Com Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method to send and receive data packets over a network of computer systems (e.g., a plurality of virtual local area networks [VLANs] compliant with the IEEE 802.1Q standard) using a server computer system adapted to have a plurality of network interface cards (NICs) coupled thereto. An outgoing data packet is addressed using a first media access control (MAC) address, wherein the first MAC address is a virtual MAC address representing the plurality of NICs. A NIC is selected from the plurality of NICs using a load balancing scheme. The functionality of the selected NIC is verified using a fault tolerance scheme. The first MAC address in the outgoing data packet is replaced with a second MAC address, wherein the second MAC address represents the selected NIC. The outgoing data packet is then transmitted using the selected NIC. For an incoming data packet received at one of the plurality of NICs, the existing MAC address in the incoming data packet is replaced with the first MAC address. Thus, the present embodiment of the present invention provides a high performance method that supports multiple VLANs and elegantly combines a load balance scheme and a fault tolerance scheme into a software element implemented on a server computer system.