Patent ID: 6185618
Filing Date: 2001-02-06
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
In a peer-to-peer network comprising end nodes, network nodes which serve the end nodes for locating resources in the network and for calculating network routes, branch extender nodes which act as owners of all resources in a branch domain controlled by the branch extender node, and dependent logical units (DLUs) supported by a DLU server function at a DLUS network node of the network and by a DLU requester function at a DLUR node of the network, a method of locating the DLUR capability to a node within the branch domain of a branch extender node, comprisingestablishing a control point to Server (CP-SVR) communication pipe between the DLUS node and the DLUR node over which control messages are transmitted for supporting the DLUs served by the DLUR node,during establishment of the CP-SVR pipe, sending a fictional network indication to the DLUS node that the DLUR node is located in a different peer-to-peer network than the DLUS node,after establishment of the CP-SVR pipe, registering the DLUR node with the DLUS node as the owner of the DLUs served by the DLUR node,at the branch extender node, in response to a resource locate search request, determining if the request is to activate a DLU supported by the DLUR node, andif the request is not to activate a DLU supported by the DLUR node, registering with the DLUS node that the branch extender is the owner of the resource being located, andif the request is to activate a DLU supported by the DLUR node, registering with the DLUS that the DLUR node is the owner of the DLU.