Duplicate IP address detection by a DHCP relay agent

• US 9,774,487 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2012
• Issued: 09/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Christenson, David A., Venuto, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Salad, Abdullahi E
• Application Number:
  US13/709,221
• Publication Number:
  US 20130166737A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,751 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/103 across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5046 Resolving address allocation conflicts; Testing of addresses testing when self-assigning an address H04L61/5092
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/61 Network physical structure; Signal processing H04B takes precedence

Abstract

Techniques are described for detecting duplicate IP addresses at a DHCP relay agent. Embodiments identify a list of DHCP clients that have valid IP address leases from one or more DHCP servers. Additionally, network traffic from a first node passing through the DHCP relay agent is monitored. Embodiments then determine whether the first node is using a duplicate IP address, based on the monitored network traffic and the identified list of DHCP clients.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

upon determining, by a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) relay agent positioned in a network between DHCP clients and one or more DHCP servers, that the one or more servers have become unavailable, assigning a first IP address to a first DHCP client of the DHCP clients;

upon determining that the one or more DHCP servers are available, identifying, at the DHCP relay agent, a list of DHCP clients that have valid IP address leases from the one or more DHCP servers;

monitoring, at the DHCP relay agent, network traffic originating from the DHCP clients and passing through the DHCP relay agent; and

determining, at the DHCP relay agent, that the first DHCP client is using the first IP address that creates a potential duplicate IP address conflict, when the identified list of DHCP clients indicates that the first DHCP client does not have a valid lease for the first IP address and when the monitored network traffic indicates that no other device within the network is currently using the first IP address; and

performing a corrective action for the potential duplicate IP address conflict, comprising;

transmitting, at the DHCP relay agent, a request for a lease of the first IP address and that specifies a media access control (MAC) address of the first DHCP client, to one of the one or more DHCP servers, thereby resolving the potential duplicate IP address conflict without involvement of the first DHCP client.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the list of DHCP clients that have valid IP address leases further comprising:

retrieving DHCP server configuration information specifying a configuration of one or more DHCP servers; and

monitoring, at a DHCP relay agent, DHCP lease traffic between the one or more DHCP servers and one or more DHCP clients passing through the DHCP relay agent to collect DHCP lease data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon determining that the first DHCP client is using a duplicate IP address, generating a notification identifying the first DHCP client and the duplicate IP address.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon determining that the first DHCP client is using a duplicate IP address, dropping, at the DHCP relay agent, all subsequent packets received from the first DHCP client.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the corrective action comprises dropping, at the DHCP relay agent, all subsequent packets received from the first DHCP client.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more DHCP servers are located on a first subnet, wherein the one or more DHCP clients are located on a second subnet that is different from the first subnet, and wherein the DHCP relay agent is configured to relay traffic between the first subnet and the second subnet.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting an ARP announcement on behalf of one of the DHCP clients in the list of DHCP clients having valid IP address leases, wherein at least one entity on the subnet is configured to update an ARP cache based on the transmitted ARP announcement.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon detecting that the first DHCP client has obtained a lease on a first IP address, adding the IP address and the associated MAC address of the first client to the identified DHCP client list; and

upon detecting that a second DHCP client has released a second IP address, removing the IP address and a MAC address associated with the second client from the identified DHCP client list.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the network traffic further comprises:

receiving an address resolution protocol (ARP) request from a second DHCP client of the DHCP clients;

upon determining that the second DHCP client having a second IP address has a valid IP address, updating an ARP cache on the DHCP relay agent based on the received ARP request; and

upon determining that the second DHCP client does not have a valid IP address;

avoiding any update operation to the ARP cache on the DHCP relay agent based on the received ARP request; and

forwarding a second ARP request on behalf of an authorized DHCP client, the authorized DHCP client being assigned the second IP address, to correct one or more other ARP caches.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the network traffic includes monitoring at least one of IP packets and ARP packets, and further comprises:

detecting a first ARP announcement on behalf of one of the DHCP clients in the list of DHCP clients having a valid IP address passing through the DHCP relay agent; and

in response, broadcasting a second ARP announcement on behalf of the DHCP client having a valid IP address to correct at one or more ARP caches that have been contaminated by the ARP announcement transmitted by a DHCP client having an invalid IP address.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first DHCP client is using a first IP address, and wherein determining whether the first DHCP client is using a duplicate IP address further comprises:

comparing a MAC address corresponding to the first DHCP client with a MAC address corresponding to the first IP address, to determine whether the first DHCP client has a valid lease for the first IP address.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the DHCP relay agent is positioned between the DHCP clients and a plurality of DHCP servers inclusive of the one or more DHCP servers, and wherein each of the plurality of DHCP servers is located on a respective distinct subnet.