System and method for resolving address conflicts in a network

Abstract

A system for resolving address conflicts in a network. In an illustrative embodiment, the system includes an address-configuration module that is adapted to assign addresses to one or more devices. The one or more devices are connected to the network via device interfaces. An interface-monitoring module communicates with the address-configuration module. The interface-monitoring module is adapted to determine when an address conflict involving plural addresses occurs and to provide a signal in response thereto. A conflict-resolution module is adapted to selectively terminate one or more device interfaces associated with the plural addresses in response to the signal and based on the addresses and one or more predetermined precedence rules. In a more specific embodiment, the system further employs a user interface for facilitating selectively adjusting the precedence rules. The conflict-resolution module runs one or more routines adapted to implement a static conflict-resolution policy, a longest-prefix policy, a highest-address policy, and/or an interface-identifier policy for Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.