Methods and apparatus for using DHCP for home address management of nodes attached to an edge device and for performing mobility and address management as a proxy home agent

A system supporting Mobile IP adapted for distributing network prefixes in a Customer Premises Edge router, comprising:

• means for receiving a DHPC reply including a network prefix from a DHCP server in response to a DHCP request;
• means for dividing the network prefix among a plurality of interfaces of the Customer Premises Edge router;
• and
• means for assigning a home address based upon the divided network prefix to one or more nodes on the plurality of interfaces, wherein the nodes support Mobile IP.

A system supporting Mobile IP and adapted for distributing network prefixes in a Customer Premises Edge router, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory, at least one of the processor and the memory being adapted for:
• receiving a DHPC reply including a network prefix from a DHCP server in response to a DHCP request;
• dividing the network prefix among a plurality of interfaces of the Customer Premises Edge router;
• and
• assigning a home address based upon the divided network prefix to one or more nodes on the plurality of interfaces, wherein the nodes support Mobile IP.

A computer-readable medium storing thereon computer-readable instructions for distributing network prefixes by a Customer Premises Edge router in a system supporting Mobile IP, comprising:

• instructions for receiving a DHPC reply including a network prefix from a DHCP server in response to a DHCP request;
• instructions for dividing the network prefix among a plurality of interfaces of the Customer Premises Edge router;
• and
• instructions for assigning a home address based upon the divided network prefix to one or more nodes on the plurality of interfaces, wherein the nodes support Mobile IP.

A network device adapted for performing duplicate address detection, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory, at least one of the processor and the memory being adapted for:
• sending a neighbor solicitation to one or more of the plurality of nodes, wherein the neighbor solicitation identifies at least one address of one of the plurality of nodes that has attempted to register with a Home Agent;
• and
• when a neighbor advertisement is received from one of the plurality of nodes, forwarding the neighbor advertisement to the Home Agent, thereby enabling the Home Agent to send an error message to the one of the plurality of nodes that has attempted to register with the Home Agent.