Patent ID: 7367046

Claim:
A method for assigning network addresses to network devices, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: receiving an address allocation request from a client network device that does not have an assigned network address; generating a network device authentication request that requests authentication of identification data that uniquely identifies the network device; sending the authentication request to an authentication mechanism; wherein the authentication mechanism comprises an authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) server; receiving an authentication response from the authentication mechanism; if the authentication response indicates that the network device is authorized to access a first network, then assigning to the network device, a trusted network address on the first network, and if the authentication response indicates that the network device is not authorized to access a first network, then assigning to the network device, an untrusted network address on a second network; wherein the trusted and untrusted network addresses are assigned to the network device without respect to port assignment; wherein the generating, the sending and the receiving the authentication response all are performed in response to receiving the address allocation request.