Patent ID: 8787207

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, by a network interface, a discovery request from a Network Management System (NMS), wherein the discovery request includes a request to identify a first device of a private network, and wherein the NMS is not part of the private network; identifying, by a processor, the first device; transmitting, by the network interface, a first private IP address for the first device to the NMS; waiting, by the network interface, to receive an access request from the NMS to add a first Port Address Translation (PAT) entry for the first device; receiving, by the network interface, the access request from the NMS to add the first Port Address Translation (PAT) entry for the first device, wherein the access request includes the first private IP address and designates a first port for communication with the first device; receiving, by the network interface, a second discovery request from the NMS to identify a second device of the private network known by the first device; identifying, by the processor, the second device; waiting, by the network interface, to receive a second access request to add a second PAT entry for the second device; receiving, by the network interface, the second access request to add the second PAT entry for the second device, wherein the access request includes a second private IP address and designates a second port for communication with the second device; adding, by the processor, the first PAT entry and the second PAT entry to a translation table, wherein the first PAT entry and the second PAT entry include respective the first private IP address and the second private IP address and respective the first designated port and the second designated port; communicating, by the network interface, the translation table to the NMS; and removing, by the processor, the PAT entries.