Proactive notification of wireless client address rotation
A network controller provides proactive notification of a wireless client device's address rotation to layer 2 (L2) and/or layer 3 (L3) devices. Traditional methods of device address discovery rely on broadcasting of address queries across a plurality of links until a path to a device having the queried address responds. As device address changes become more frequent in an effort to improve user privacy, traditional methods of address discovery impose a large burden on networks, reducing their performance and efficiency. By proactively propagating address changes to upstream devices, the need for broadcast oriented address discovery techniques is reduced, resulting in improved network performance.
1 . A method comprising:
maintaining information for one or more network devices which store an address mapping of an Internet Protocol (IP) address to a first media access control (MAC) address of a wireless device, wherein the wireless device is identified via the first MAC address;
determining that the wireless device has rotated its MAC address from the first MAC address to a second MAC address; and
providing to the one or more network devices a notification that the wireless device has rotated its MAC address and of the second MAC address.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising requesting address mappings of the wireless device from the one or more network devices, wherein the maintaining is based on the address mappings.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the information further includes an address mapping that maps a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier to the first MAC address, or the first MAC address to a port of a network device that stores the address mapping.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing is configured to cause a network device to update a stored address mapping that references the first MAC address to instead reference the second MAC address.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the maintaining comprises:
obtaining from a first network device an indication that the first network device is associated with the wireless device; and
adding the first network device to the information.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the indication is a request to subscribe to updates of the wireless device.
7 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising deriving from the indication, address information of the first network device, wherein adding the first network device to the information comprises storing the address information in the information of one or more network devices.
8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining a virtual local area network (VLAN) in which the wireless device participates; and searching the information to identify a set of network devices participating in the VLAN, wherein the providing includes providing a notification to the set of network devices.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the notification enables the one or more network devices to update stored information used to manage network communications.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the stored information includes Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) information and/or information stored in Content Addressable Memory.
11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting address rotation; and
identifying a particular wireless device through address rotation by one or more network infrastructure devices, including one or more of: a wireless network controller, an access point, an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) service, a dynamic host control protocol (DHCP) server, or other network infrastructure device or process.
12 . An apparatus comprising:
a network interface configured to enable network communications;
one or more processors; and
one or more memories storing instructions that when executed configure the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
maintaining information for one or more network devices which store an address mapping of an Internet Protocol (IP) address to a first media access control (MAC) address of a wireless device, wherein the wireless device is identified via the first MAC address;
determining that the wireless device has rotated its MAC address from the first MAC address to a second MAC address; and
providing to the one or more network devices a notification that the wireless device has rotated its MAC address and of the second MAC address.
13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , the operations further comprising requesting address mappings of the wireless device from the one or more network devices, and wherein the maintaining is based on the address mappings.
14 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the information includes an address mapping that maps a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier to the first MAC address, or the first MAC address to a port of a network device that stores the address mapping.
15 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the providing is configured to cause a network device to update a stored address mapping that references the first MAC address to instead reference the second MAC address.
16 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the providing comprises providing the notification to the one or more network devices to enable the one or more network devices to update stored information used to manage network communications.
17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the stored information includes Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) information and/or information stored in Content Addressable Memory.
18 . The apparatus of claim 12 , the operations further comprising:
detecting address rotation; and
identifying a particular wireless device through address rotation by one or more network infrastructure devices, including one or more of: a wireless network controller, an access point, an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) service, a dynamic host control protocol (DHCP) server, or other network infrastructure device or process.
19 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed configure one or more processor to perform operations comprising:
maintaining information for one or more network devices which store an address mapping of an Internet Protocol (IP) address to a first media access control (MAC) address of a wireless device that is identified via the first MAC address;
determining that the wireless device has rotated its MAC address from the first MAC address to a second MAC address; and
providing to the one or more network devices a notification that the wireless device has rotated its MAC address and of the second MAC address.
20 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein providing comprises providing the notification to the one or more network devices to enable the one or more network devices to update stored information used to manage network communications.