Forwarding of service requests by a wireless controller

A wireless controller comprising a plurality of ports, a processor to process packets received at ports of the wireless controller and a memory, wherein the processor is to store in said memory a port ID of a port through which the service provider can be reached and upon receiving a broadcast service request at one of said plurality of ports, the processor is to forward the broadcast service request only through the port corresponding to said port ID stored in said memory without changing a destination address in a header of the broadcast service request.

A wireless controller comprising a plurality of ports, an access point management module to manage access points, a memory and a service request module to receive from one of said ports a broadcast service request, inspect the memory to determine on which port a reply to a previous broadcast service request was received by the wireless controller and to forward the broadcast service request as a packet with a broadcast header through a port on which the memory indicates that a reply to a previous broadcast service request was received, without forwarding the broadcast service request through other ports of the wireless controller.