Patent ID: 8291111

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a network interface; memory; and a controller coupled to the network interface and the memory, the controller being configured to: receive, through the network interface, a query message from a relay agent following a loss, by the relay agent, of state information of one or more client devices disposed in electrical communication with the apparatus through the relay agent, the query message requesting data from the apparatus regarding a network resource, the apparatus configured as a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, the network resource being a particular network address of the one or more client devices, access an identifier from the memory, the identifier indicating whether the apparatus was the last DHCP server of a set of DHCP servers to exercise control over the network resource, and when the identifier indicates that the apparatus was the last DHCP server of a set of DHCP servers to exercise control over the network resource, provide a response message to the relay agent through the network interface in response to the query message and regarding the network resource based on the identifier, when the identifier indicates that the apparatus was not the last DHCP server of a set of DHCP servers to exercise control over the network resource, delay generation of a response message for a predefined amount of time and generate and provide the response message to the relay agent through the network interface, in response to the query message and regarding the network resource, after lapse of the predefined amount of time, and wherein when delaying generation of a response message for a predefined amount of time and generating and providing the response message to the relay agent through the network interface, in response to the query message and regarding the network resource, after lapse of the predefined amount of time, the controller is configured to allow a DHCP server that last exercised control over the network resource of the one or more client devices to provide a response message to the relay agent.