US Patent 11936490 L2 switch, communication method, and communication program

Upon receiving a copy of upstream communication from a first switch, a second switch specifies an NF apparatus serving as a transmission source of the upstream communication, based on apparatus information indicating a MAC address of each apparatus and a transmission source MAC address contained in the copy of the upstream communication. The second switch refers to the apparatus information, and MAC address information indicating, for each port of the switch, a MAC address of an apparatus connected via the port, thereby specifying a port of the second switch connected to the NF apparatus, and a MAC address of the transmission source via the port. The second switch stores session information in which information on the specified port and MAC address is associated with header information set for the copy of the upstream communication. Upon receiving downstream communication, the second switch transfers the downstream communication to the NF apparatus.