Persistent Network Identity for Volatile IP Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems fail to reliably track networked device identities over long periods and across multiple sub-networks due to volatile IP addresses allocated by DHCP, making data analytics and security challenging.
Innovation Solution
An online device profiling service is deployed across sub-networks, which uses APIs to collect and analyze diverse data, creating persistent network identities by correlating IP addresses, MAC addresses, and hostnames, and storing this information in hierarchical caches for long-term reference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If IP addresses are used to identify networked devices, then network security and data management are enabled, but the identifiers change over time making long-term tracking unreliable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a persistent device identifier as an intermediary that mediates between the volatile IP address and the need for reliable long-term identification. This persistent identifier remains constant while IP addresses change, allowing continuous tracking of devices across different network configurations and time periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a copy of the device identification function by introducing an additional identifier layer. Instead of relying solely on the original IP address, the system maintains a persistent identifier that replicates the identification function but with long-term stability, enabling reliable device tracking without being constrained by IP address lifecycle.
2Ease of operation
If DHCP is used to allocate IP addresses, then network management is simplified, but device identities become volatile across lease periods
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the identification function into two independent parts: the DHCP-managed IP address for network communication and the persistent identifier for long-term device recognition. This segmentation allows DHCP to continue providing simplified network management while the persistent identifier maintains stable device identity across lease periods.
3Reliability
If complex integration of tools is deployed to track device identities, then device tracking reliability improves, but system complexity and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the device tracking function from complex multi-tool integrations and consolidates it into a single persistent identifier mechanism. By taking out the essential identification function and implementing it through a unified approach, the system achieves reliable device tracking without the complexity and costs associated with integrating multiple separate tools.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a network device that determines a persistent network identity for a networked device. Specifically, the network device receives a service request that includes an identifier for a second network device in a sub-network among a plurality of sub-networks. The identifier uniquely corresponds to the second network device during a limited period of time. At least one sub-networks are unreachable by the service request. The network device aggregates partial networked device profiles corresponding to the second network device received from other network devices in at least the at least one sub-networks to generate a networked device profile. Moreover, the network device searches at least one caches to obtain the networked device profile based on the identifier in the service request, and correlates the identifier to a persistent network identity corresponding to the second network device based on the networked device profile.