Patent ID: 7840708

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a first network device, comprising at least one hardware processor, wherein said first network device is configured to be coupled to a second network device, said first network device is further configured to receive an address of a network device, wherein said address is represented by address information, and said address information is received from said second network device, receive a security group of said network device, wherein said security group is identified using security group information, said security group information indicates said network device is a member of said security group, and said security group information is received from said second network device, and associate said address information and said security group information with one another by storing said address information and said security group information, said second network device is not configured to support the use of said security group by virtue of not being configured to add said security group information to a packet, such that access control processing of said packet using said security group information can be performed, and said second network device is configured to cause said first network device to store said address information and said security group information by virtue of being configured to send an install message to said first network device, wherein said install message comprises said address information and said security group information, and said install message is configured to cause said first network device to associate said address information and said security group information.