US Patent 10193706 Distributed rule provisioning in an extended bridge

Techniques for performing distributed provisioning of packet classification rules in an extended bridge are provided. According to one embodiment, a controlling bridge (CB) of the extended bridge can receive a command to create or delete a packet classification rule for one or more virtual ports of the extended bridge. The CB can further determine a port extender (PE) of the extended bridge that hosts one or more physical ports corresponding to the one or more virtual ports. The CB can then transmit a message to the PE with instructions for creating or deleting the packet classification rule in a ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) of the PE.