Patent ID: 8086713

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, with a network device of a network, a first Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) discover message from a first client device of the network, wherein the first DHCP discover message requests that a first layer three (L3) network address be reserved for the first client device, wherein the first DHCP discover message includes a first identifier that uniquely identifies the first client device and an option 60 field defining a first portion of additional context information that identifies a vendor of the first client device; determining, with the network device, a second portion of the additional context information for the first DHCP discover message from the first client device that identifies a circuit by which the network device received the first DHCP discover message, receiving, with the network device, a second DHCP discover message from a second client device of the network different from the first client device, wherein the second DHCP discover message requests that a second L3 network address be reserved for use by the second client device within the network, wherein the second DHCP discover message includes a second identifier different from the first identifier that uniquely identifies the second client device and an option 60 field defining the same first portion of the additional context information that identifies the same vendor of the second client device as that of the first client device; determining, with the network device, the same second portion of the additional context information for the second DHCP discover message from the second client device that identifies the same circuit for the second DHCP discover message as that determined for the first DHCP discover message, determining, with the network device, whether the additional context information associated with the first and second client devices is the same; based on the determination that the additional context information associated with the first and second client devices is the same, determining that the first client device has failed gracelessly without issuing a DHCP release message; and automatically releasing, with the network device, the first network resource reserved for use by the first client device within the network based on the determination that the first client device has failed gracelessly without issuing a DHCP release message.