METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STATEFUL CONTROL OF FORWARDING ELEMENTS

A method for controlling a network element by a remote controller comprising a processor coupled to a transmitter comprises modeling, by the processor, a state machine that controls transitions between operational states of the network element, offloading, by the transmitter, to the network element a portion of the state machine that controls a subset of the transitions, the subset comprising selected transitions that are more suitable for local control by the network element than remote control by the remote control application, and remotely controlling, by the processor, other transitions that are not in the subset of the transitions.