Global contact-point registry for peer network devices

• US 10,298,672 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2015
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shanks, Robert Tristan, Patel, Jignesh Devji, Verkaik, Patrick Douglas, Altas, Selahattin Daghan, Aronow, Joseph Morgan, Delegard, Justin, Koenig, Dylan Jason
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Uzma
• Application Number:
  US14/974,290
• Publication Number:
  US 20170180307A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,250 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2514 between local and global IP addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2567 for reachability, e.g. inquiring the address of a correspondent behind a NAT server
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1061 using node-based peer discovery mechanisms static access to replicated servers H04L67/1006; service discovery H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1068 Discovery involving direct consultation or announcement among potential requesting and potential source peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers

Abstract

Previous solutions to the problem of maintaining up-to-date network device addressing, fail to provide systems or processes that efficiently share and obtain addressing information of networking devices in a given network. By contrast, and to that end, various implementations disclosed herein include systems, methods and apparatuses that generate a registry request message, where the registry request message includes a first portion characterized by a first write privilege and a second portion characterized by a second write privilege different from the first write privilege. The systems, methods and apparatuses convey the registry request message to a shared contact point network entity, and obtain a response message addressed from the shared contact point network entity, where the response message includes peer addressing information corresponding to one or more peer network devices associated with the aforementioned systems, methods and apparatuses.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

at a first device including a memory, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, one or more processors and one or more communication ports;

generating a first registry request message, wherein the first registry request message includes a first portion and a second portion, and wherein the first portion is characterized by a first write privilege for the first registry request message and the second portion is characterized by a second write privilege for the first registry request message, wherein the second write privilege is different from the first write privilege;

conveying, from the first device, the first registry request message to a shared contact point network entity through a second device, wherein the second device is permitted to modify the first registry request message according to the first write privilege and the second write privilege; and

obtaining a first response message addressed from the shared contact point network entity, wherein the first response message includes peer contact point information corresponding to one or more peer devices associated with the first device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first write privilege permits the first portion to be overwritten by the second device, and the second write privilege restricts the second portion from being overwritten by the second device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion includes a header and the second portion includes a payload of the first registry request message, and the header includes public contact point information corresponding to the first device, and the payload includes private contact point information corresponding to the first device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating the first registry request message includes writing an internet protocol (IP) address and a port number corresponding to the first device, to both the header and the payload of the first registry request message.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a second registry request message;

conveying the second registry request message to the shared contact point network entity; and

obtaining a second response message addressed from the shared contact point network entity.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating a local peer contact point table with the peer contact point information corresponding to one or more peer devices associated with the first device, received in the first response message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first registry request message includes one or more peer device identifiers identifying the one or more peer devices associated with the first device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the peer contact point information includes public contact point information and private contact point information for each peer device of the one or more peer devices.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second device is permitted to modify a portion of the first response message.

10. A device comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory memory including instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the device to;

convey, from the device, a registry request message to a shared contact point network entity, through a second device and obtain a response message addressed from the shared contact point network entity through the second device; and

generate a registry request message, wherein the registry request message includes a first portion and a second portion, and wherein the first portion is characterized by a first write privilege for the registry request message and the second portion is characterized by a second write privilege for the registry request message, wherein the second write privilege is different from the first write privilege, wherein the second device is permitted to modify the registry request message according to the first write privilege and the second write privilege.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the first portion of the registry request message includes a header and the second portion includes a payload of the registry request message, and the header includes public contact point information corresponding to the device, and the payload includes private contact point information corresponding to the device.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the registry request generation module is further configured to write an internet protocol (IP) address and a port number corresponding to the device, to both the header and the payload of the registry request message.

13. The device of claim 10, wherein the registry request message includes one or more peer device identifiers identifying the one or more peer devices associated with the device.

14. The device of claim 10, wherein the peer contact point information includes public contact point information and private contact point information for each peer device of the one or more peer devices.

15. The device of claim 10, wherein the second device is permitted to modify a portion of the response message.

16. A method, comprising:

at a shared contact point network entity having a memory, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and one or more processors;

obtaining through a third device a first registry request message from a first device, wherein the first registry request message includes a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion is characterized by a first write privilege for the first registry request message and the second portion is characterized by a second write privilege for the first registry request message, wherein the second write privilege is different from the first write privilege, and wherein the third device is permitted to modify the first registry request message according to the first write privilege and the second write privilege;

obtaining peer contact point information corresponding to one or more peer devices of the first device, from a contact point registry; and

generating a first response message including the peer contact point information corresponding to one or more peer devices of the first device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first portion of the first registry request message includes a header comprising public contact point information for the first device, and the second portion of the first registry request message includes a payload comprising private contact point information for the first device.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining contact point information of the first device by identifying a first internet protocol (IP) address and port from the first portion and a second IP address and port from the second portion; and

updating the contact point registry with the contact point information of the first device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein updating the contact point registry with the contact point information of the first device is performed in accordance with a determination that an entry in the contact point registry corresponding to the first device does not contain the determined contact point information of the first device.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining one or more peer device identifiers identifying one or more respective peer devices, from the first registry request message; and

obtaining peer contact point information from the contact point registry in accordance with the one or more identified peer devices.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the contact point registry includes an entry corresponding to the first device, and the entry includes the one or more peer device identifiers of the first registry request message.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

obtaining a second registry request message from a second device;

obtaining peer contact point information corresponding to one or more peer devices of the second device, from the contact point registry; and

generating a second response message including peer contact point information corresponding to one or more peer devices of the second device.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein the third device is permitted to modify a portion of the first response message.