VLAN mobility

• US 20070076694A1
• Filed: 09/30/2005
• Published: 04/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Aruba Networks Incorporated (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Iyer, Pradeep, Taylor, John
• Granted Patent: US 7,756,126 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/15 in relation to multipoint traffic arrangements for broadcast or multicast in data networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/767 after changing the attachment point, e.g. after hand-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/783 Distributed allocation of resources, e.g. bandwidth brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the invention, a method for providing VLAN mobility that comprises at least two operations. A first operation involves determining whether a unique identifier of the second network device is within an Association listing. The Association listing includes unique identifiers of networks devices associated with the first network device and virtual local area network (VLAN) identifiers for the network devices associated with the first network device. A second operation involves determining if the unique identifier of the second network device is within a Bridge listing if the unique identifier of the second network device is not located within the Association listing.

Claims

1. A method of communication within a network, comprising:

initiating communications between a first network device and a second network device;

determining whether a unique identifier of the second network device is within an Association listing, the Association listing includes unique identifiers of networks devices associated with the first network device and virtual local area network (VLAN) identifiers for the network devices associated with the first network device;

determining if the unique identifier of the second network device is within a Bridge listing if the unique identifier of the second network device is not located within the Association listing; and

reading a VLAN identifier assigned to the second network device from the Bridge listing for use in a multicast or broadcast transmission to network devices assigned to a virtual local area network represented by the VLAN identifier if the unique identifier of the second network device is located within the Bridge listing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the Bridge listing is a table including unique identifiers of a plurality of networks devices forming the network and VLAN identifiers for the plurality of networks devices.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

assigning a VLAN identifier to the second network device if the unique identifier of the second network device is not located within the Bridge listing.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to determining if the unique identifier of the second network device is within the Bridge listing, the method further comprising:

reading the VLAN identifier assigned to the second network device from the Association listing if the unique identifier is within the Association listing.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the unique identifier is a source media access control (MAC) address of the second network device being a wireless station.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

loading the VLAN identifier and the unique identifier of the second network device into the Association listing.

7. The method of claim 6 being conducted by a management server in communication with the network switch.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

loading the VLAN identifier and the unique identifier of the second network device into a Bridge listing of at least a second network switch in communication with the network switch.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to determining whether the unique identifier of the second network device is within the Association listing, the method further comprising:

determining if the communications constitute a new association.

10. Software executed by logic implemented within a network switch of a network, comprising:

a first software module that, when executed, extracts a source media access control (MAC) address from an incoming message from a station and determines whether the source MAC address is within an Association listing, the Association listing includes source MAC addresses of networks devices associated with the network switch and virtual local area network (VLAN) identifiers for the network devices associated with the network switch;

a second software module that, when executed, determines if the source MAC address of the station is within a Bridge listing if the source MAC address of the station is not stored within the Association listing; and

a third software module that, when executed, reads a VLAN identifier assigned to the station from the Bridge listing for use in a multicast or broadcast transmission to network devices assigned to a VLAN represented by the VLAN identifier if the source MAC address of the station is stored within the Bridge listing.

11. The software of claim 10, wherein the third software module further assigns a VLAN identifier to the station if the source MAC address of the station is not stored within the Bridge listing.

12. The software of claim 10, wherein the first software module further reads the VLAN identifier assigned to the station from the Association listing if the unique identifier is stored within the Association listing.

13. The software of claim 10 further comprising:

a fourth software module to copy the VLAN identifier and the source MAC address of the station stored within the Bridge listing into the Association listing.

14. The software of claim 13, wherein the fourth software module further to load the VLAN identifier and the source MAC of the station into a Bridge listing of at least a second network switch of the network in communication with the network switch.

15. A network switch comprising:

a memory to store an Association listing and a Bridge listing; and

processing logic to (i) determine if a source MAC address for a network device transmitting a message to the network switch is contained within the Association listing or is contained within the Bridge listing if the source MAC address is not contained within the Association listing, and (ii) produce a message for transmission using a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier corresponding to the source MAC address upon location of the source MAC address within one of the Association listing and the Bridge listing.

16. The network switch of claim 15 further comprising:

logic for establishing communications with the network device over an interconnect.

17. The network switch of claim 16, wherein the network device is a wireless station.

18. The network switch of claim 15, wherein the VLAN identifier is computed and assigned to correspond with the source MAC address of the network device based on a logical operation performed on the source MAC address to produce a result and an arithmetic operation performed on the result and a total number of virtual local area networks supported by a network implemented with the network switch.

19. The network switch of claim 18, wherein the logical operation on the source MAC address includes separating the source MAC address into a plurality of bit segments with each bit segment being at least one bit in length, and performing Exclusive OR (XOR) operations on the plurality of bit segments in succession to produce the result.

20. The network switch of claim 18, wherein the arithmetic operation includes a Modulo operation on the result and the total number of virtual local area networks to generate the VLAN identifier.