Patent ID: 7953830

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for reconfiguring a network, the method comprising: setting by a client executing on one or more processors of a computer system and in communication with the network a renew time and a rebind time of a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) configuration; establishing by the client an IP address with a first DHCP server, the client IP address having a specified lease time; after passage of the renew time, transmitting by the client a renew request to the first DHCP server at its IP address; in response to failure to receive an acknowledgement message from the first DHCP server, determining by the client if the first DHCP server IP address is still valid; in response to determining that the first DHCP server IP address is not still valid, determining by the client that a new DHCP server IP address is required; accessing by the client a network change event signal from a second DHCP server, wherein the second DHCP server transmits the network change event signal over the network to clients subscribing to the network change event signal, the network change event signal comprising an indication of a second DHCP server IP address of the second DHCP server; retrieving by the client the second DHCP server IP address from the accessed network change event signal; detecting by the client a change in DHCP server IP address by comparing the retrieved second DHCP server IP address to the first DHCP server IP address and determining that the second DHCP server IP address is a different address than the first DHCP server IP address; configuring by the client a network adapter based on the second, different DHCP server IP address without disconnecting and reconnecting the client with the network; and transmitting by the client to the second, different DHCP server IP address a new information table comprising an indication of the client IP address.