Patent ID: 8068408

Claim:
A network of devices including at least a first forwarding element (FE), a first control element (CE) and a first network element (NE), the network comprising: a first forwarding element (FE) set including a plurality of FEs; and a first control element (CE) for controlling the first FE set, the first CE providing one first protocol process among a plurality of protocols on behalf of each FE in the first FE set, the first CE being physically remote from the FEs in the first FE set, the first CE being dynamically bound to each FE in the first FE set such that multiple bindings may be performed wherein the network architecture is adapted to perform a dynamic binding protocol for dynamically binding each FE to one of the CEs, wherein the dynamic binding protocol comprises a discovery protocol enabling each FE to discover one of the CEs which can manage the FE such that multiple bindings may be performed; wherein each of said FEs is configured to request discovery of the first CE, wherein said CE is configured to respond to the respective requests for discovery of the first CE by each of the FEs in the first FE set, wherein respective responses by the first CE to discovery of the first CE by each of the FEs in the first FE set are configured for use by the FEs in the first FE set to dynamically bind with the first CE; and wherein the first CE and the FEs in the first FE set form a first network element.