Patent attributes
Some embodiments provide a novel secure method for suppressing address discovery messaging. In some embodiments, the method receives an address discovery record that provides a network address associated with a machine connected to a network. The method then identifies a set of one or more rules for evaluating the received address discovery record to determine whether the address discovery record or its provided network address should be distributed to one or more hosts and/or devices associated with the network. The method then processes the set of rules to determine whether the received address discovery record violates a rule in the set of rules so as to prevent the distribution of its provided network address. When the address discovery record violates a rule, the method discards it in some embodiments. On the other hand, when the address discovery record does not violate any rule in the identified set of rules, the method distributes the address discovery record or its provided network address to one or more hosts and/or devices associated with the network.
