Method, apparatus and system for automatic loading of a network stack

An information handling system (IHS) having a kernel socket layer and a communications device driver, comprising:

• a processor capable of executing a set of instructions;
• a memory device in data communication with the processor upon which the set of instructions may be stored, the set of instructions when executed effects:
• loading a first Internet Protocol network communication stack;
• creating and registering a module management kernel thread to automatically load a second Internet Protocol network communication stack only when called upon, wherein the second Internet Protocol network communication stack corresponds to Internet Protocol version 6 (Ipv6) communications;
• registering the kernel thread with the kernel socket layer of the IHS and communications device driver to receive from either a notice of calls corresponding to the second Internet Protocol network communication stack, wherein the notice of calls corresponding to the second Internet Protocol network communication stack includes an identifier comprising a three-octet subset of a media access control (MAC) address;
• and
• loading by the kernel thread of the second Internet Protocol network communication stack upon receiving notice of calls corresponding to the second Internet Protocol network communication stack only if the first two octets of the identifier include the value 33:33 and the third octet does not include the value 0xFF.

A method for loading a second Internet Protocol network communication stack in an information handling system (IHS) already provided with a first Internet Protocol network communication stack, the method comprising:

• providing a kernel socket layer and a communications device driver in the IHS;
• creating and registering a module management kernel thread to automatically load the second Internet Protocol network communication stack only when called upon, wherein the second Internet Protocol network communication stack corresponds to Internet Protocol version 6 (Ipv6) communications;
• registering the kernel thread with the kernel socket layer of the IHS and communications device driver for the kernel thread to receive from either a notice of calls corresponding to the second Internet Protocol network communication stack, wherein the notice of calls corresponding to the second Internet Protocol network communication stack includes an identifier comprising a three-octet subset of a media access control (MAC) address;
• and
• loading by the kernel thread of the second Internet Protocol network communication stack upon receiving notice of calls corresponding to the second Internet Protocol network communication stack only if the first two octets of the identifier include the value 33:33 and the third octet does not include the value 0xFF.