--- /dev/null
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2013 Cisco Systems, Inc. and others. All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
+ * terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 which accompanies this distribution,
+ * and is available at http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+ */
+
+package org.opendaylight.controller.hosttracker.hostAware;
+
+import java.net.InetAddress;
+
+/**
+ * This Interface defines the methods to trigger the discovery of a Host and to
+ * probe if a learned Host is still in the network.
+ *
+ *
+ *
+ */
+public interface IHostFinder {
+ /**
+ * This method initiates the discovery of a host based on its IP address.
+ * This is triggered by query of an application to the HostTracker. The
+ * requested IP address doesn't exist in the local database at this point.
+ *
+ * @param networkAddress
+ * IP Address encapsulated in InetAddress class
+ *
+ */
+ public void find(InetAddress networkAddress);
+
+ /**
+ * This method is called by HostTracker to see if a learned Host is still in
+ * the network. Used mostly for ARP Aging.
+ *
+ * @param host
+ * The Host that needs to be probed
+ */
+ public void probe(HostNodeConnector host);
+}