Patent ID: 8081640

Claim:
A network system, comprising: a plurality of network devices for forwarding a packet; a network constructed from the plurality of network devices; and a management server coupled to the network and managing the network, wherein: the plurality of network devices include a first network device having one or more filters and a second network device coupled at a lower level of the network constructed from the plurality of network devices than the first network device such that the second network device is located closer to a terminal end of the network than the first network device along a path from an external network through the first network device; and the management server is configured to: determine a number of the one or more filters of the first network device to assign as a target of reconfiguration based on a load of a processor of the first network device; obtain topology of the network from the plurality of network devices; reconfigure, by referring to the obtained network topology, a filter of the first network device that is assigned as a target of reconfiguration and a filter of the second network device such that a range in which packets can be forwarded through reconfiguring filter set in the first network device is distributed to the second network device; and set the reconfigured filters into the first network device and the second network device to configure the second network device to forward packets through the range in which packets were forwarded through the reconfiguring filter of the first network device.