Importance

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Abstract

Establishing peer-to-peer tunnels between clients in a mobility domain. In normal operation, clients attached to a network having access nodes connected to a central controller transfer all traffic through the central controller. This traffic is passed using tunnels between the access node and the central controller. Tunnels may be encrypted, and GRE tunnels may be used. A mobility manager operating in the controller tracks access nodes connected to the controller, and clients connected to those access nodes. When the mobility controller recognizes traffic passing between clients in its mobility domain that is eligible for peer-to-peer forwarding, it instructs the access nodes supporting the clients to establish a peer-to-peer tunnel between the nodes, and direct the client traffic through this peer-to-peer tunnel. The peer-to-peer tunnel may be session based, or may be aged. Eligibility of traffic for peer-to-peer tunnels may be controlled by rules, such as limiting peer-to-peer tunnels by source or destination, by port or protocol, and the like.

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First Claim