Patent ID: 8018900

Claim:
A roaming method operative in a wireless infrastructure having a set of network elements, wherein each network element has a Layer 2 (L2) bridge capability and an associated L2 bridge forwarding table, comprising: as a client moves from a subnet associated with a first network element to a subnet associated with a second network element, evaluating a source Internet Protocol (IP) address within a Layer 3 (L3) header in a first frame to determine if the client is roaming; if, as a result of the evaluating step, it is determined that the client is roaming, configuring the L2 bridge forwarding table in the second network element to include a source Medium Access Control (MAC) address of the client together with information identifying at least a destination interface for use in directing client data traffic back towards the subnet associated with the first network element; and forwarding the first frame, wherein an encapsulation tunnel is associated with the first and second network elements prior to the client moving from the subnet associated with the first network.