Patent ID: 8842679

Claim:
A distributed network control system for managing a plurality of switching elements of a network, the system comprising: a plurality of controller instances for generating a set of control data for controlling the plurality of switching elements, wherein a particular controller instance of the plurality of controller instances executes a network operating system (NOS) comprising: a coordination manager for communicating with coordination managers of the other controller instances of the plurality of controller instances in order to partition control of the plurality of switching elements by identifying a plurality of sets of switching elements of the plurality of switching elements and electing at least one controller instance as a master for each identified set of switching elements; a storage for storing a subset of the control data for controlling a particular set of switching elements of the plurality of sets of switching elements for which the particular controller instance executing the NOS is elected as the master; and a switch interface for passing the subset of the control data from the particular controller instance executing the NOS to the particular set of switching elements for which the particular controller instance executing the NOS is elected as the master.