Patent ID: 7467214

Claim:
A method of invoking protocol translation in a multicast network supporting first and second protocols, the method comprising: detecting a first multicast request sent from a source host to a destination host using a first protocol; sending, after a predetermined time, a second multicast request to said destination host using each of said first and second protocols; invoking protocol translation to facilitate communication between said source host and said destination host, if a reply to said second multicast request is received from said destination host using said second protocol and no reply is received from said destination host using said first protocol, wherein translation comprises: generating a proxy address using the first protocol for the destination host, forwarding the proxy address to the source host, creating an alias on a network interface at a translation mechanism in the multicast network, and assigning the proxy address to the aliased network interface to enable the translation mechanism to detect and process packets addressed to the proxy address; sending a unicast request from the source host intended for the destination host using the proxy address using the first protocol; detecting the unicast request at the aliased network interface by the translation mechanism; processing of the unicast request by the translation mechanism to determine an address for the destination host using the second protocol; and forwarding the unicast request by the translation mechanism to the destination host using the second protocol to establish a connection from the source host to the destination host.