EXTENSION OF WI-FI SERVICES MULTICAST TO A SUBNET ACROSS A WI-FI NETWORK USING SOFTWARE-DEFINED NETWORK (SDN) TO CENTRALLY CONTROL DATA PLANE BEHAVIOR

摘要

Wi-Fi services multicast to a subnet in a software-defined network (SDN) are extended. An SDN controller centrally monitors a data plane of a Wi-Fi network. Advertisements for services within a first subnet by an advertising station are forwarded to the SDN controller. Parameters of the service of the advertising station are extracted for storage by performing deep packet inspection on the one or more packets. Queries for services within a second subnet by a querying station are also forwarded to the SDN controller. Parameters of the service of the querying station are extracted for storage by performing deep packet inspection on the one or more packets. The query for service to the advertisement matches responsive to the advertisement parameters compared to the query parameters. Responsive to matching, a set of connection parameters necessary for the querying station at the second subnet to connect to the advertising station at the first subnet is sent.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method in a software-defined network (SDN) controller for extending Wi-Fi services available within a subnet to an entirety of a communication network by centrally coordinating data plane behavior, the method comprising the steps of:
centrally monitoring data plane traffic flow at each of the plurality of network components distributed around the communication network for a plurality of subnets; receiving one or more packets forwarded from one of the network components and concerning an advertisement for services within a first subnet by an advertising station, the advertisement being multicast to the subnet and the forward being unicast to the SDN controller; extracting parameters of the service of the advertising station for storage by performing deep packet inspection on the one or more packets; receiving one or more packets forwarded from one of the network components and concerning a query for service within a second subnet by a querying station, the query being multicast to the subnet and the forward being unicast to the SDN controller; extracting parameters of the service of the querying station for storage by performing deep packet inspection on the one or more packets; matching the query for service to the advertisement responsive to the advertisement parameters compared to the query parameters; and responsive to matching, sending a set of connection parameters necessary for the querying station at the second subnet to connect to the advertising station at the first subnet.