Patent ID: 8464312

Claim:
A method for integrating network policy enforcement into a network infrastructure, the method comprising: establishing a communications bus between disparate policy devices and respective connection points in a network having a network infrastructure, each disparate policy device operating outside of the network infrastructure without access to network traffic in the network and in collaboration with other disparate policy devices to coordinate determinations about network traffic in accordance with a network policy, the respective connection points operating as intermediate points in the network infrastructure and controlling network traffic in the network to enforce the network policy; providing information about the network infrastructure to the disparate policy devices from the respective connection points via the communications bus; receiving a report of an event from a disparate policy device in the respective connection point via the communication bus, the event having been detected in the disparate policy device in collaboration with other disparate policy devices; generating an action in the respective connection point for controlling network traffic to enforce the network policy in response to receiving the report of the event; and wherein providing information about the network infrastructure to the disparate policy devices from the respective connection points via the communications bus includes: receiving a probe from a disparate policy device inquiring about at least one of a topology of, connected devices in, and device behavior present in the network infrastructure; and the respective connection points sending information about the network infrastructure to the disparate policy devices in response to the probe via the communications bus.