IP pool management utilizing an IP pool MIB
First Claim
1. A method for managing Internet Protocol (IP) addresses on a data communications network, comprising:
- allocating a plurality of local IP address pools, each of said local IP address pools associated with a different network edge device capable of accepting connection requests requiring an IP address, said network edge device having a local memory, said local memory including a local IP address pool database;
requesting IP address usage data from one or more of said network edge devices;
receiving said requested IP address usage data;
determining whether one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools should be reallocated based upon at least said requested IP address usage data;
reallocating one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools based upon said determining; and
updating one or more of said local IP address pool databases and a global IP pool database based upon said reallocating, said global IP address pool database including the information maintained in each said local IP address pool;
whereinsaid local IP address pool includes a high watermark that indicates a measurement of the maximum number of IP addresses used by said network edge device;
said determining further comprises ascertaining whether said high watermark of a local address pool exceeds a high watermark limit; and
said method further comprises indicating one or more IP address pools should be reallocated to give more IP addresses to the network element associated with said high watermark when said high watermark exceeds said high watermark limit.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for managing Internet Protocol (IP) addresses on a data communications network includes allocating multiple local IP address pools, requesting IP address usage data from one or more of the network edge devices, receiving the requested IP address usage data, determining whether the local IP address pools should be reallocated based upon the requested IP address usage data, reallocating one or more of the local IP address pools based upon the determination and updating one or more of the local IP address pool databases and a global IP pool database based upon the reallocating. Each of the local IP address pools is associated with a different network edge device that is capable of accepting connection requests requiring an IP address. The global IP address pool database includes the information maintained in each local IP address pool. A network edge device capable of managing IP addresses on a data communications network includes an allocator capable of allocating multiple local IP address pools, a receiver capable of receiving a communication, an allocator capable of allocating an available IP address from the local IP address pool if the communication includes a connection request, a determiner capable of determining whether the local IP address pool should be adjusted, a notifier capable of sending an alarm message to an IP pool manager when the IP address pool should be adjusted and a memory capable of storing an IP address allocation when the communication includes an IP address allocation.
-
Citations
52 Claims
-
1. A method for managing Internet Protocol (IP) addresses on a data communications network, comprising:
-
allocating a plurality of local IP address pools, each of said local IP address pools associated with a different network edge device capable of accepting connection requests requiring an IP address, said network edge device having a local memory, said local memory including a local IP address pool database; requesting IP address usage data from one or more of said network edge devices; receiving said requested IP address usage data; determining whether one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools should be reallocated based upon at least said requested IP address usage data; reallocating one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools based upon said determining; and updating one or more of said local IP address pool databases and a global IP pool database based upon said reallocating, said global IP address pool database including the information maintained in each said local IP address pool; wherein said local IP address pool includes a high watermark that indicates a measurement of the maximum number of IP addresses used by said network edge device; said determining further comprises ascertaining whether said high watermark of a local address pool exceeds a high watermark limit; and said method further comprises indicating one or more IP address pools should be reallocated to give more IP addresses to the network element associated with said high watermark when said high watermark exceeds said high watermark limit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A method for managing Internet Protocol (IP) addresses on a data communications network, comprising:
-
allocating a plurality of local IP address pools, each of said local IP address pools associated with a different network edge device capable of accepting connection requests requiring an IP address, said network edge device having a local memory, said local memory including a local IP address pool database; requesting IP address usage data from one or more of said network edge devices; receiving said requested IP address usage data; determining whether one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools should be reallocated based upon at least said requested IP address usage data; reallocating one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools based upon said determining; and updating one or more of said local IP address pool databases and a global IP pool database based upon said reallocating said global IP address pool database including the information maintained in each said local IP address pool;
wherein;said local IP address pool includes a high watermark that indicates a measurement of the maximum number of IP addresses used by said network edge device; said determining further comprises ascertaining whether said high watermark of a local address pool exceeds a high watermark limit; and said method further comprises indicating one or more IP address pools should be reallocated to give more IP addresses to the network element associated with said high watermark when said high watermark exceeds said high watermark limit. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. An apparatus for managing Internet Protocol (IP) addresses on a data communications network, the apparatus comprising:
-
means for allocating a plurality of local IP address pools, each of said local IP address pools associated with a different network edge device capable of accepting connection requests requiring an IP address, said network edge device having a local memory, said local memory including a local IP address pool database; means for requesting IP address usage data from one or more of said network edge devices; means for receiving said requested IP address usage data; means for determining whether one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools should be reallocated based upon at least said requested IP address usage data; means for reallocating one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools based upon said determining; and means for updating one or more of said local IP address pool databases and a global IP pool database based upon said reallocating, said global IP address pool database including the information maintained in each said local IP address pool;
wherein;said local IP address pool includes a high watermark that indicates a measurement of the maximum number of IP addresses used by said network edge device; said means for determining further comprises means for ascertaining whether said high watermark of a local address pool exceeds a high watermark limit; and said apparatus further comprises means for indicating one or more IP address pools should be reallocated to give more IP addresses to the network element associated with said high watermark when said high watermark exceeds said high watermark limit. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. An apparatus capable of managing Internet Protocol (IP) addresses on a data communications network, said apparatus comprising:
-
a memory for storing a global IP address pool; and a global IP pool manager, comprising; an allocator capable of allocating a plurality of local IP address pools, each of said local IP address pools associated with a different network edge device capable of accepting connection requests requiring an IP address; a requestor capable of requesting IP address usage data from one or more of said network edge devices; a determiner capable of determining whether one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools should be reallocated based upon at least said requested IP address usage data; a reallocator capable of reallocating one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools based upon said an indication from said determiner; and an updater capable of updating one or more of said local IP address pool databases and said global IP pool database based upon said reallocating;
wherein;said local IP address pool includes a high watermark that indicates a measurement of the maximum number of IP addresses used by said network edge device; and said determiner is further configured to ascertain whether said high watermark of a local address pool exceeds a high watermark limit and to indicate IP address pool should be reallocated to give more IP addresses to the network element associated with said high watermark when said high watermark exceeds said high watermark limit. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. A method for managing Internet Protocol (IP) addresses on a data communications network, comprising:
-
allocating a plurality of local IP address pools, each of said local IP address pools associated with a different network edge device capable of accepting connection requests requiring an IP address, said network edge device having a local memory, said local memory including a local IP address pool database; requesting IP address usage data from one or more of said network edge devices; receiving said requested IP address usage data; determining whether one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools should be reallocated based upon at least said requested IP address usage data; reallocating one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools based upon said determining; updating one or more of said local IP address pool databases and a global IP pool database based upon said reallocating, said global IP address pool database including the information maintained in each said local IP address pool; wherein said local IP address pool includes a high watermark that indicates the maximum number of IP addresses used by said network edge device; wherein said determining further comprises ascertaining whether said high watermark of a local address pool exceeds a high watermark limit; indicating one or more IP address pools should be reallocated to give more IP addresses to the network element associated with said high watermark when said high watermark exceeds said high watermark limit; wherein each said local IP address pool further comprises a low watermark that indicates the minimum number of IP addresses used by said network edge device; wherein said determining further comprises ascertaining whether said low watermark of said address pool exceeds a low watermark limit; and indicating one or more IP address pools should be reallocated to reclaim IP addresses from the network element associated with said low watermark when said low watermark exceeds said low watermark limit. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
-
-
35. A program storage device readable by a machine, embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method to manage Internet Protocol (IP) addresses on a data communications network, the method comprising:
-
allocating a plurality of local IP address pools, each of said local IP address pools associated with a different network edge device capable of accepting connection requests requiring an IP address, said network edge device having a local memory, said local memory including a local IP address pool database; requesting IP address usage data from one or more of said network edge devices; receiving said requested IP address usage data; determining whether one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools should be reallocated based upon at least said requested IP address usage data; reallocating one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools based upon said determining; updating one or more of said local IP address pool databases and a global IP pool database based upon said reallocating, said global IP address pool database including the information maintained in each said local IP address pool; wherein said local IP address pool includes a high watermark that indicates the maximum number of IP addresses used by said network edge device; wherein said determining further comprises ascertaining whether said high watermark of a local address pool exceeds a high watermark limit; indicating one or more IP address pools should be reallocated to give more IP addresses to the network element associated with said high watermark when said high watermark exceeds said high watermark limit; wherein each said local IP address pool further comprises a low watermark that indicates the minimum number of IP addresses used by said network edge device; wherein said determining further comprises ascertaining whether said low watermark of said address pool exceeds a low watermark limit; and indicating one or more IP address pools should be reallocated to reclaim IP addresses from the network element associated with said low watermark when said low watermark exceeds said low watermark limit. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
-
-
41. An apparatus for managing Internet Protocol (IP) addresses on a data communications network, comprising:
-
means for allocating a plurality of local IP address pools, each of said local IP address pools associated with a different network edge device capable of accepting connection requests requiring an IP address, said network edge device having a local memory, said local memory including a local IP address pool database; means for requesting IP address usage data from one or more of said network edge devices; means for receiving said requested IP address usage data; means for determining whether one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools should be reallocated based upon at least said requested IP address usage data; means for reallocating one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools based upon said determining; means for updating one or more of said local IP address pool databases and a global IP pool database based upon said reallocating, said global IP address pool database including the information maintained in each said local IP address pool; wherein said local IP address pool includes a high watermark that indicates the maximum number of IP addresses used by said network edge device; wherein said means for determining further comprises means for ascertaining whether said high watermark of a local address pool exceeds a high watermark limit; means for indicating one or more IP address pools should be reallocated to give more IP addresses to the network element associated with said high watermark when said high watermark exceeds said high watermark limit; wherein each said local IP address pool further comprises a low watermark that indicates the minimum number of IP addresses used by said network edge device; wherein said means for determining further comprises means for ascertaining whether said low watermark of said address pool exceeds a low watermark limit; and means for indicating one or more IP address pools should be reallocated to reclaim IP addresses from the network element associated with said low watermark when said low watermark exceeds said low watermark limit. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
-
-
47. An apparatus capable of managing Internet Protocol (IP) addresses on a data communications network, said apparatus comprising:
-
a memory for storing a global IP address pool; and a global IP pool manager, comprising; an allocator capable of allocating a plurality of local IP address pools, each of said local IP address pools associated with a different network edge device capable of accepting connection requests requiring an IP address; a requestor capable of requesting IP address usage data from one or more of said network edge devices; a determiner capable of determining whether one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools should be reallocated based upon at least said requested IP address usage data; a reallocator capable of reallocating one or more of said plurality of local IP address pools based upon said an indication from said determiner; an updater capable of updating one or more of said local IP address pool databases and said global IP pool database based upon said reallocating; wherein said local IP address pool includes a high watermark that indicates the maximum number of IP addresses used by said network edge device; wherein said determiner is further configured to ascertain whether said high watermark of a local address pool exceeds a high watermark limit and to indicate IP address pool should be reallocated to give more IP addresses to the network element associated with said high watermark when said high watermark exceeds said high watermark limit; wherein each said local IP address pool further comprises a low watermark that indicates the minimum number of IP addresses used by said network edge device; wherein said determiner is further configured to ascertain whether said low watermark of said address pool exceeds a low watermark limit and to indicate one or more IP address pools should be reallocated to reclaim IP addresses from the network element associated with said low watermark when said low watermark exceeds said low watermark limit. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
-
Specification