System and method for supporting multicast domain name system device and service classification

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9350815-B2
Application number	US-201213542606-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 5, 2012
Priority date	Jul 5, 2012
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a digital device is adapted to support one or more network services. The digital device comprises processing circuitry, and a memory coupled to the processing circuitry. The memory comprises logic that, when executed by the processing circuit, is configured to (i) detect, in response to a triggering event, one or more network services advertised by at least one digital device within a network, and (ii) store information only directed to the one or more network services.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
detecting, by a first digital device, at least one message having a format in accordance with a multicast Domain Name System (mDNS) protocol from a second digital device;
classifying, by the first digital device, the second digital device as a first device type when the at least one message advertises a network service provided by the second digital device to other digital devices;
classifying, by the first digital device, the second digital device as a second device type when the at least one message requests network services from a digital device classified as the first device type, wherein the requested network services are to be used by the second digital device; and
storing, by the first digital device, information for the advertised network service only when the second digital device is classified as the second device type,
wherein storing the information comprises identifying a first subset of records and a second subset of records from information within the at least one message, wherein:
the first subset of records is associated with the advertised network service;
the advertised network service is a first network service or a second network service; and
the second subset of records is associated with an advertised network service other than the first network service and the second network service.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting of the at least one message having the format in accordance with the mDNS protocol is conducted by a controller.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting of the at least one message having the format in accordance with the mDNS protocol is conducted by an access point.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein prior to classifying the second digital device as the first device type, the method further comprises
determining when the at least one message is advertising at least one network service supported by a network and classifying the second digital device as the first device type in response to determining that the at least one network service is supported by the network; and
determining a first record, being a part of the information contained in the at least one message, is a specific type of record.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first record is a Pointer (PTR) record.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprises fetching all records contained in the information associated with the at least one message when the PTR record is a record other than the first record of the information.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storing of the information comprises storing an identifier for the second digital device and classifying all records associated with the second digital device based on the identifier.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein a record comprises information identifying (i) a name of the record, (ii) a record type, (iii) a value that controls longevity of the record in an active state, and (iv) addressing information.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first digital device is communicatively coupled to the second digital device over a network that supports a first network service and a second network service.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first digital device is one of a computer or a server, and wherein a device of the first device type provides a network service to be used by a device of the second device type.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising
storing the first subset of records; and
disregarding the second subset of record.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a third subset of records from the information within the at least one message, the third subset of records being identified as records required to perform one of a first network service or a second network service; and
storing only the third subset of records.

13. A digital device of a first device type to support one or more network services, the digital device comprising:
processing circuitry;
a memory coupled to the processing circuitry, the memory comprises logic that, when executed by the processing circuit, is configured to (i) detect a message from a second digital device, wherein the message has a format in accordance with a multicase Domain Name System (mDNS) protocol (ii) in response to the second digital device advertising one or more network services in the message, classify the second digital device as a first device type (iii) in response to the second digital device requesting in the message one or more network services for use by the second digital device, classify the second digital device as a second device type, and (iv) store information only directed to the one or more network services advertised by the second digital device of the first device type; and
the logic to:
identify a first subset of records and a second subset of records from the message, the first subset of records associated with a first network service of the one or more network devices and the second subset of records associated with a second network service different than the first network service.

14. The digital device of claim 13 , wherein the logic, when executed by the processing circuitry, refrains from storing information directed to network services other than the one or more network services advertised by the second digital device when classified as the first device type.

15. The digital device of claim 13 being a controller.

16. The digital device of claim 13 being an access point.

17. The digital device of claim 13 , wherein a device of the first digital device type provides a network service to be used by a device of the second device type.

18. The digital device of claim 13 , wherein the logic classifies the second digital device as either the first device type or the second device type further in response to initialization or restarting of the logic.

19. The digital device of claim 13 , wherein logic classifies the second digital device as either the first device type or the second device type further in response to detecting that the second digital device or services referenced in the message have not been previously detected by the logic.

20. The digital device of claim 13 , wherein an mDNS record comprises information identifying (i) a name of the record, (ii) a record type, (iii) a value that controls longevity of the record in an active state, and (iv) addressing information.

21. The digital device of claim 20 , wherein the logic is further configured to store the first subset of records, and disregard the second subset of records.

22. The digital device of claim 20 , wherein the logic is further configured to identify a third subset of records from the message, the third subset of records being identified as records required to perform the first network service, and store only the third subset of records.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable storage media that includes software that, when executed by processing circuitry in the first digital device of a first device type, causes the first digital device to:
detect a message having a format in accordance with a multicast Domain Name System (mDNS) protocol from a second digital device;
classify the second digital device as a first device type when the message advertises a network service to be provided by the second digital device to other digital devices;
classify the second digital device as a second device type when the message requests network servi

Assignees

• Agarwal Gopal
• Wadhawan Anupam
• Narasimhan Partha
• Aruba Networks Inc

Inventors

• Agarwal Gopal
• Wadhawan Anupam
• Narasimhan Partha

Classifications

• H04L67/16 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L61/6013

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L61/1511

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/51 Primary

  Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services · CPC title

• H04L61/4511 Primary

  using domain name system [DNS] · CPC title