Patent ID: 7551559

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving user input specifying an Inter-Layer Binding Protocol (ILBP) rate for a first interface; detecting a rate of ILBP messages received via the first interface; dropping an ILBP message received via the first interface, if the rate exceeds the ILBP rate specified by the user input; validating the ILBP message received via the first interface, if the rate does not exceed the ILBP rate; dropping the ILBP message if the ILBP message is invalid; and generating protocol status information, in response to one or more Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) messages, wherein the one or more DHCP messages are conveyed according to a protocol used to assign network addresses to clients, a body of the ILBP message comprises an inter-layer binding, the validating the ILBP message comprises comparing the inter-layer binding to the protocol status information, and the protocol status information comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address and a Media Access Control (MAC) address.