Patent ID: 7937494

Claim:
A data communications device, comprising: a network interface; and a controller coupled to the network interface, the controller being configured to process a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) request from a DHCP client device by: receiving the DHCP request from the DHCP client device through the network interface, evaluating a set of rules in response to the DHCP request to obtain a rule-based classification result, outputting a DHCP response in response to the rule-based classification result, and causing other actions to be taken by other components of the network in response to the DHCP response, wherein the controller, when causing the other actions to be taken by the other components of the network, is configured to: effectuate assignment of an Internet Protocol (IP) address to the DHCP client device and delivery of the IP address from the data communications device to the DHCP client device in response to the DHCP request from the DHCP client device; wherein the set of rules is configured as a table having multiple rule entries, each rule entry defining (i) a particular condition, (ii) a pool name, (iii) a pool location, and (iv) an action; wherein the controller is further configured to: modify the set of rules dynamically while the data communications device of the network classifies other DHCP requests and outputs other DHCP responses; and wherein the controller, when modifying the set of rules, is configured to: change at least one of the particular condition, the pool name, the pool location, and the action of a rule entry substantially contemporaneously while the data communications device of the network classifies the other DHCP requests and outputs the other DHCP responses.