Patent Document ID: 9935831
Application ID: 14295196
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of using a controller that controls switches in a network having end hosts that are coupled to the switches, the method comprising: with a switch modeling interface at the controller, maintaining switch models of the switches in the network, wherein the switches are separate from the controller; with a switch modeling interface at the controller, receiving a desired network configuration of the network of switches; with a switch modeling interface at the controller, generating control messages for the switches to implement the desired network configuration based on the switch models, wherein the desired network configuration received at the switch modeling interfaces comprises a function, a global host table identifying end host attachment points, and a global inter-switch forwarding table; and with the switch modeling interface, operating the function on the global host table and the global inter-switch forwarding table to produce a switch-specific forwarding table for each of the switches that is separate from the global host table and the global inter-switch forwarding table by applying a series of functions that derive the switch-specific forwarding table for each of the switches from the global host table and the global inter-switch forwarding table, wherein the global host table is separate from the global inter-switch forwarding table.