Patent ID: 8612606

Claim:
A method comprising: detecting, by a network node, a presence of a first server device on a network associated with the network node; communicating, by the network node, with the first server device to obtain information associated with the first server device; sending, by the network node and to a second server device, a request for authentication services, the request including the information associated with the first server device; receiving, by the network node and from the second server device, a notification that the first server device has been authenticated, the notification including a session threshold associated with the authentication, the session threshold including a period of time during which a session with a particular type of server device is authorized; and establishing, by the network node and based on the notification, a session with the first server device, the establishing the session including: associating the information associated with the first server device with an identifier associated with a virtual local area network (VLAN), associated with the network node, the associating permitting network traffic to be received from or sent to the first server device via the VLAN, and storing, as session information and in a memory associated with the network node, at least one of: the information associated with the first server device, the session threshold, or the identifier associated with the VLAN, the network node using the session threshold, instead of a threshold associated with the VLAN, to determine a duration permitted for the session; checking, at a later point in time, the session information stored in the memory; determining whether the first server device is the particular type of server device based on the information associated with the first server device and the session threshold; disassociating the first server device and the VLAN when the first server device is not the particular type of server device; and maintaining an association between the first server device and the VLAN when the first server device is the particular type of server device and the later point in time is within the period of time.