Patent ID: 11902099
Assignee: NILE GLOBAL, INC.
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A method for automatically building an internet protocol (IP) network, the method comprising:
at a first network element, obtaining a first IP address from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server;
on an unnumbered interface of the first network element, receiving a DHCP request from an unnumbered interface of a second network element, wherein each of the unnumbered interface of the second network element and the unnumbered interface of the first network element comprises an unnumbered logical or virtual interface, wherein IP processing is enabled on the unnumbered logical or virtual interface without assigning an explicit IP address to the unnumbered logical or virtual interface, wherein the first network element, the second network element, and at least one other network element are connected in series through a plurality of unnumbered interfaces to form a circle, and wherein all network interfaces of the second network element are unnumbered interfaces;
at the first network element, forwarding the DHCP request from the second network element to the DHCP server using the first IP address as a relay IP address;
at the first network element, receiving a DHCP response from the DHCP server, wherein the DHCP response contains a second IP address of the second network element, and wherein the first and second network elements are in the same subnet, and wherein the first and second IP addresses have an identical subnet mask; and
at the first network element, forwarding the DHCP response to the second network element through the unnumbered interface of the first network element and the unnumbered interface of the second network element.