Automatic discovery of nodes associated with a virtual subnet

• US 6,587,455 B1
• Filed: 05/27/1999
• Issued: 07/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Ray, Dipankar, Gallant, Rene
• Primary Examiner(s): Kizou, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Qureshi, Afsar M.
• Application Number:
  US09/320,957
• Time in Patent Office: 1,496 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/352, 370/475, 370/354, 370/397, 709/223, 709/238, 709/245, 709/224, 709/225, 709/226, 709/227, 709/228, 709/229, 709/220
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5061 Pools of addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5076 Update or notification mechanisms, e.g. DynDNS

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and system for dynamic allocation of a network address associated with a virtual subnet (302) to a network device (100) having a transceiver (102) coupled to a network (304) for broadcasting an address server query message (602) in response to initialization of the network device (100) and an address server (200) coupled to the network (304) sending the network address associated with a virtual subnet (302) to the network device (100) in response to the address server (200) receiving the address server query message (602).

Claims

1. A method of dynamic allocation of a network address to a network device from an address server associated with a virtual subnet comprising the steps of:

broadcasting an address server query message by the network device to the address server associated with the virtual subnet;

receiving at the network device from the address server the server network address identifying the address server associated with the virtual subnet; and

transmitting an address request message to the address server identified by the server network address.

2. The method of dynamic allocation of claim 1 including the step of identifying, at the network device, a flag contained with the response message which indicates the address server is associated with the virtual subnet.

3. The method of dynamic allocation of claim 2 including the step of accepting another virtual subnet address for another network device.

4. The method of dynamic allocation of claim 3 in which the step of accepting further comprises the step of notifying the other network device of the network address assigned to the network device by the network device sending a message to the other network device.

5. The method of dynamic allocation of claim 4 in which the message from the network device to the other network device contains the network address of the network device in a data field.

6. The method of dynamic allocation of claim 3 in which the step of accepting further comprises the step of receiving, at the other network device, the network address for the network device in a message from the address server.

7. The method of dynamic allocation of claim 6 including the step of identifying at the network device that the response is a DHCPOFFER message from the address server that contains a flag indicating the address server is associated with the virtual subnet and contains a list of network addresses assigned to virtual subnet devices.

8. The method of dynamic allocation of claim 1 in which the step of broadcasting includes the step of sending a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) DHCPDISCOVER message.

9. The method of dynamic allocation of claim 1 in which the network is an Internet Protocol network.

10. An apparatus for dynamic allocation of a network address to a network device from an address server associated with a virtual subnet comprising:

a transceiver located in the network device coupled to a network requesting the network address to be assigned to the network device by broadcasting an address server query message to the address server associated with the virtual subnet;

a memory located in the network device coupled to the transceiver for storing the server network address within a response message received by the transceiver from the address server associated with the virtual subnet;

a processor located at the network device coupled to the memory and the transceiver for identifying whether the server network address received within the response message is the server network address of the address server associated with the virtual subnet; and

wherein the transceiver transmits an address request message to the address server in response to the processor identifying the server network address.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 in which the processor determines if a flag is contained with the response message which indicates the address server is associated with the virtual subnet.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 further comprising a virtual subnet address table in the memory for storing another address for another network device associated with the virtual subnet in response to the transceiver receiving the other network address.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 in which the transceiver notifies the other network device of the network address received from the address server by sending a message to the other network device associated with the other network address contained in the virtual subnet address table.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 in which a data field in the message contains the network address.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 in which the address server query message is a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) DHCPDISCOVER message sent to a DHCP server.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprises a DHCP DHCPOFFER message having a flag indicating the DHCP server is associated with the virtual subnet received by the transceiver in response to the transceiver broadcasting the DHCP DHCPDISCOVER message.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 in which the network is an Internet Protocol network.

18. A system for dynamic allocation of a network address in a network comprising:

a network device having a transceiver coupled to the network broadcasting an address server query message in response to initialization of the network device;

an address server having a server network address coupled to the network sending the server network address to the network device in response to the address server receiving the address server query message;

a memory located in the network device coupled to the transceiver for storing the server network address in response to the transceiver receiving the server network address;

wherein address server sending said server network address within a server introduction message; and

a processor located in the network device coupled to the memory and the transceiver for determining if the address server is associated with the virtual subnet and transmitting a network address request message to the address server in response to receiving the server introduction message.

19. The system of claim 18 further comprising a flag in the server introduction message received at the network device from the address server to indicate the address server is associated with the virtual subnet.

20. The system of claim 18 further comprising a virtual subnet address table located in the memory of the network device for storing another network address of another network device associated with the virtual network in response to the address server sending the other network address.

21. The system of claim 20 further comprising a gateway address server in a private network associated with the virtual subnet coupled to the address server in the network sending the other network address from the gateway address server to the address server in response to the gateway address server receiving a request from the address server for the other network address of the other network device.

22. The system of claim 21 in which a DHCPTRANSINF message contains the other network address transmitted from the gateway address server to the address server.

23. The system of claim 21 in which an address update message having the network address of the network device is sent from the network device to the other network device via the gateway address server.

24. The system of claim 20 in which a data field in a message sent from the address server to the network device contains the other network address.

25. The system of claim 20 in which an address update message having the network address of the network device is sent from the network device to the other network device.