Alcatel Lucent

Alcatel

Nico Alfred Anna Janssens

Christele Bouchat

Erwin Alfons Constant Six

Sven Maurice Joseph Ooghe

Johan Marie Camiel Moreels

In methods for setting up communications between digital-subscriber-line terminal modems () and internet-service-providers () via digital-subscriber-line-access-multiplexers () and forwarders () of asynchronous-transfer-mode-networks () further comprising dynamic-host-configuration-protocol-relay-agents (), first messages are sent from the terminal modems () to the agents () via the access multiplexers (), which first messages comprise incoming logical identifiers defining couplings () between the terminal modems () and the access multiplexers (), second messages are sent from the agents () to dynamic-host-configuration-protocol-servers () for receiving internet-protocol-addresses to be supplied to the terminal modems () via the agents (). To be able to locate the agents () outside the forwarders (), the agents () convert the first messages into the second messages at least by inserting outgoing logical identifiers defining couplings () between the access multiplexers () and the forwarders (), and the forwarders () are informed about relationships between the Internet-Protocol-addresses and the outgoing logical identifiers. The forwarders () then have sufficient knowlegde to find the right (part of the) access multiplexer ().

Method for setting up a connection

An extractor extracts from the payload of the Layer 2 packet a destination Layer 3 address of the Layer 3 packet. A forwarding engine, for in response to the extraction, with the destination Layer 3 address retrieves from a forwarding database an associated interface. The forwarding database includes at least one association between one of the plurality of interfaces and at least one Layer 3 address. Upon reception of the destination Layer 3 address having a full match with one of the Layer 3 addresses, the forwarding database provides the interface which is associated to the Layer 3 address. The network unit forwards the Layer 2 packet to the provided associated interface.

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Overmere, Belgium

Nico Alfred Anna Janssens