| CPC H04L 45/74 (2013.01) | 20 Claims |

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1. A method for programming route prefixes in a forwarding information base of a network device, wherein the method comprises:
identifying, by a forwarding information base entry optimizer, a new route prefix from a routing information base to be programmed into the forwarding information base;
determining, by the forwarding information base entry optimizer, whether the forwarding information base includes an entry having a supernet route prefix that includes the new route prefix, wherein the supernet route prefix is a less specific routing prefix associated with multiple more specific route prefixes having a same next-hop;
in response to the forwarding information base entry optimizer determining that the supernet route prefix includes the new route prefix, determining whether a next-hop of the supernet route prefix is different than a next-hop of the new route prefix;
in response to the forwarding information base entry optimizer determining that the next-hop of the supernet route prefix is different from the next-hop of the new route prefix, programming the new route prefix into the forwarding information base; and
in response to the forwarding information base entry optimizer determining that the next-hop of the supernet route prefix is the same as the next-hop of the new route prefix, associating the new route prefix with the supernet route prefix.
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