US 2013/0097335 A1 · SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR MANAGING NETWORK PROTOCOL ADDRESS ASSIGNMENT WITH A CONTROLLER

Abstract

A controller may help reduce network traffic that is associated with broadcasting of Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) packets by converting broadcast DHCP packets into unicast DHCP packets and forwarding the unicast DHCP packets to appropriate DHCP servers. The servers may be identified from a database of servers that is updated with DHCP server address information based on DHCP reply packets that are received by the controller from servers in the network. To convert DHCP request packets into unicast packets, the controller may modify address header fields of the packets such as Ethernet addresses and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. The controller may forward the modified DHCP request packets to the server by providing packet forwarding rules such as flow table entries to the switches or by forwarding the modified DHCP request packets through the controller.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of using a controller to control switches in a network, the method comprising:

with the controller, identifying whether a network packet that is sent from an end host is requesting assignment of a protocol address to the end host;
in response to identifying that the network packet requests assignment of a protocol address to the end host, processing the network packet with the controller;
and
with the controller, controlling the switches by providing at least one of the switches with the network packet that has been processed by the controller.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and methods for managing network protocol address assignment with a controller

Life of this patent

System and methods for managing network protocol address assignment with a controller

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20