Abstract: Methods, systems, and gateways are disclosed for automatically setting up a redirector of domain name system (DNS) name requests. A DNS setup packet is transmitted to a remote gateway via a tunnel of a virtual private network (VPN). The setup packet comprises a global name of a home network and a private address of a DNS server in the home network. A DNS setup reply packet is received from the remote gateway via the tunnel. The reply packet comprises a global name of another home network and a private address of a DNS server in the other home network. An application level gateway of the DNS server (DNS-ALG) in the home network is configured dependent upon the DNS setup reply packet to redirect DNS name requests for the global name of the other network to the DNS server in the other network. Methods, systems, and gateways are also disclosed for resolving a domain name request in a DNS.

Abstract: The invention provides a method, computer program and system for automatic and dynamic configuration of an address allocation mechanism in a computer network. The invention provides for allocating network addresses to the devices in the computer network by obtaining routing protocol messages (301), the routing protocol messages being exchanged in the computer network for routing purposes. Then the invention obtains network prefix addresses that correspond to sub-networks (501), the network prefix addresses being obtained using the routing protocol messages. Thereafter, the invention determines a range of valid network addresses for the devices using the network prefix addresses (503). These valid network addresses can then be allocated to hosts requiring network addresses. The current invention also continuously monitors the routing protocol messages to dynamically adapt the address allocation mechanism with changes in the addressing configuration of the computer network.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for allocating an address in an integrated network comprising at least one zero-configuration network component and one or more configured network components are disclosed. The method comprises the steps of obtaining address reachability information relating to configured components (110), automatically allocating an address that avoids an addressing conflict with the configured components (120), and providing the allocated address to a routing protocol serving the configured network components (130). A network including the foregoing apparatus is also disclosed. The apparatus or network device typically comprises a zero-configuration router modified to perform the foregoing method steps.