Dynamic Host Configuration for Managing Mobility Between Public and Private Networks

Allen K. Miu, Paramvir Victor Bahl
3rd USENIX Symposium on Internet Technologies and Systems, San Francisco, CA, March 2001

The usage and service options of a pubic network generally differ from a private (enterprise or home) network and consequently, the two networks are often configured differently. The existence of both types of networks motivates our need to improve support and management of nomadic users who frequently roam between them. We describe a solution that allows client devices to configure themselves dynamically to adapt to the local network configuration. In addition to supporting mobility, we describe how our solution also provides fail-over mechanisms for providing highly available service, load balancing, and location services. Furthermore, our solution can be used to scale networks that are deployed in a large setting. We discuss in detail the various issues that need to be dealt with for achieving true device-level mobility, pointing out several unsolved problems in this area. The algorithms and software proposed in this paper have been implemented, are deployed, and are currently being used in a real-world public network that is operational at the Crossroads Mall in Bellevue, Washington.

[PDF (142KB)] [Gzipped PostScript (118KB)]

Bibtex Entry:

@inproceedings{miu2001dynamic,
   author =       "Allen K. Miu and Paramvir Victor Bahl",
   title =        "{Dynamic Host Configuration for Managing Mobility Between Public and Private Networks}",
   booktitle =    {3rd USENIX Symposium on Internet Technologies and Systems},
   year =         {2001},
   month =        {March},
   address =      {San Francisco, CA}
}