Selection of One of First and Second Links Between First and Second Network Devices

1. A first network device, comprising: a first link to a second network device, the first and second network devices to at least one of switch and direct traffic; a second link to the second network device, wherein the second link includes a network appliance between the first network device and the second network device, the network appliance to connect to the second network device and to at least one of modify and filter at least some of the traffic passing between the first and second network devices via the second link; and a traffic module to select one of the first and second links to transmit the traffic from the first network device to the second network device at a given time, wherein a network layer topology is not changed if one of the first and second links fails, and wherein the network appliance is at least one of a network accelerator and a firewall device.

2. The first network device of claim 1 , wherein the traffic module is to direct all the traffic to the second link and to redirect all the traffic from the second link to the first network link if the second link fails.

3. The first network device of claim 2 , wherein, the traffic module is to redirect all the traffic from the first link back to the second link if the second link recovers, the first network switch includes a keep-alive mechanism to determine if at least one of the first and second links has failed, and the first network switch is to reprogram a trunk-balance table to redirect traffic from one of the first and second links to another of the first and second links.

4. The first network device of claim 1 , wherein the traffic module is to determine which of the traffic to output to which of the first and second links based on a network forwarding policy.

5. The first network device of claim 4 , wherein, the network forwarding policy is based on a type of the traffic, the traffic module is to output a first type of the traffic to one of the first and second links, and the traffic module is to output a second type of the traffic to a remainder of the first and second links.

6. The first network device of claim 5 , wherein the traffic module is to analyze a header of a packet to determine the type of the traffic.

7. The first network device of claim 6 , wherein the first type is Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) related data and the second type is non-TCP related data.

8. The first network device of claim 4 , further comprising: an active set of links including the first and second links, each of the links of the active set associated with a cost, wherein the network forwarding policy is based on the cost of the links of the active set, the traffic module is to select one of the links from the active set of links to transmit the traffic from the first network device to the second network device, and the traffic module is to remove a failed link from the active set of links.

9. The first network device of claim 4 , wherein, the second network device includes a traffic module to select one of the first and second links to transmit traffic from the second network device to the first network device at a given time, and the traffic module of the second network device is to determine which of the traffic to output to which of the first and second links based on a network forwarding policy.

10. The first network device of claim 1 , wherein, the first network device includes a plurality of ports to output the traffic to the second network device, and the first network device is to aggregate at the data link layer the traffic to be output to the second network device along one of the first and second links.

11. The first network device of claim 1 , wherein, the first and second network devices are switches, and the media access control (MAC) table of the first network device is retained if the selected link fails and the traffic is redirected to the other of the first and second links.

12. The first network device of claim 11 , wherein an extra MAC learn and a MAC move are not processed by a processor of the first network device if the selected link fails and the traffic is redirected to the other of the first and second links.

13. The first network device of claim 1 , wherein, the first and second network devices are at least one of a router and a switch, the first and second network devices are to select one the first and second links to transmit traffic, if the network appliance is a network accelerator, and one of the first and second network devices are to select one the first and second links to transmit traffic, if the network appliance is a firewall.

14. A method, comprising: aggregating, at a first network device, traffic from a plurality of physical ports to be output to a second network device, into a single logical port; selecting, at the first network device, one of a plurality of links from the first network device to the second network device to output the traffic from the single logical port, a first link of the plurality of links to form a direct connection between the first and second network devices and a second link of the plurality of links to form a second connection between the first and second network devices, wherein the second link includes a network appliance between the first and second network devices; and redirecting, at the first network device, traffic from the selected link to an other link of the plurality of links without remapping a media access control (MAC) table of the first network device, if the selected links fails, wherein the network appliance is at least one of a network accelerator and a firewall device.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein: the first network device and the second network devices are switches, and a media access control (MAC) table of the first network device is retained if the selected link fails and the traffic is redirected to the other of the first and second links.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein: the first and second network devices are at least one of a router and a switch, the first and second network devices are to select one the first and second links to transmit traffic, if the network appliance is a network accelerator, and one of the first and second network devices are to select one the first and second links to transmit traffic, if the network appliance is a firewall.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, if executed by a processor of a network switch, cause the processor to: select one of first and second links to output traffic from a first network device to a second network device, the first link to transmit the traffic between the first and second network devices directly and the second link to transmit the traffic between the first and second network devices, wherein the second link includes a network appliance between the first network device and the second network device; monitor the selected link for link failure; and switch selection from the selected link to an other of the first and second links without changing a network topology of the network switch, if the selected links fails, wherein the network appliance is at least one of a network accelerator and a firewall device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein: the first network device and the second network devices are switches, and a media access control (MAC) table of the first network device is retained if the selected link fails and the traffic is redirected to the other of the first and second links.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein an extra MAC learn and a MAC move are not processed by a processor of the first network device if the selected link fails and the traffic is redirected to the other of the first and second links.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein: the first and second network devices are at least one of a router and a switch, the first and second network devices are to select one the first and second links to transmit traffic, if the network appliance is a network accelerator, and one of the first and second network devices are to select one the first and second links to transmit traffic, if the network appliance is a firewall.