Patent ID: 7974222

Claim:
A method for providing link local addressing across a plurality of interfaces of a source network node, comprising: broadcasting a request packet for requesting a hardware address associated with a link-local protocol-layer address on the plurality of interfaces; receiving a reply packet at the source network node from a responding network node on at least one of the plurality of interfaces; detecting that the reply packet indicates contention for the link-local protocol-layer address on the plurality of interfaces, wherein the reply packet indicates contention if the reply packet, which includes the link-local protocol-layer address, is received on an interface of the plurality of interfaces, but a record in the source network node indicates an association between the link-local protocol-layer address and a different interface of the plurality of interfaces; choosing one of the plurality of interfaces as a winner interface; and causing a network node on the interface other than the winner interface to select a new link-local protocol-layer address.