Patent ID: 7792993

Claim:
A method for assigning addresses to requesting computer systems comprising: receiving, under a dynamic address assignment protocol, a broadcast discovery message as a request for an IP address from a computer system coupled to a first subnetwork of a local area network, wherein the broadcast discovery message includes clear data and encrypted data; determining if the computer system is registered to a local domain by verifying the identity of the computer system from the request for an IP address using the clear data and encrypted data; assigning a local address on the first subnetwork if the computer system is registered to the local domain, the local address operable for access to the local area network; and if the computer system is not registered to the local domain: designating the computer system as a guest computer system; assigning a guest address on the first subnetwork operable for selective transport on predetermined portions of the local area network; and propagating assignments of addresses to communications devices operable to selectively route traffic to at least one guest address path, which includes: identifying a second subnetwork, the second subnetwork including restricted nodes; defining tunnel routes as selected routes separate from the second subnetwork; and routing guest traffic on the tunnel routes.