Dynamic port assignment

• US 20030093558A1
• Filed: 10/29/2002
• Published: 05/15/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: Candle Distributed Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Crump, Michael William
• Granted Patent: US 7,747,758 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/239
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/663 Transport layer addresses, e.g. aspects of transmission control protocol [TCP] or user datagram protocol [UDP] ports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/162 involving adaptations of sockets based mechanisms secure socket layer H04L63/168
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture provide the ability to determine a port number for a network connection. An Internet Protocol (IP) address of a server is determined. Based on the IP address, a first number is determined. An interval value is added to the first number resulting in a second number to be used as a port number. The interval value is repeatedly added to the second number if the second number is not available for use as the port number.

Claims

1. A method of determining a port number for a network connection comprising:

determining an Internet Protocol (IP) address of a server;

determining a first number based on the IP address; and

calculating a second number to be used as the port number by adding an interval value to the first number.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first number is a four (4) digit number.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first number comprises a left-most digit from each stanza of the IP address.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating the addition of the interval value to the second number if the second number is not available for use as the port number.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining if the second number is available for use as a port number by determining if an appropriate response is received from the server.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the appropriate response is not received if a response is not received within a short period of time.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the appropriate response is not received if a signature received from the server does not match a copy of the signature on a client.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second number has a maximum value of 65535.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the port number for use in subsequent connection requests.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising authenticating a client by:

validating a domain name; and

validating the client.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein validating the domain name comprises determining if the domain name is in a list of tolerated domains.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein validating the client comprises checking a client identification against a list of tolerated client names.

13. An apparatus for determining a port number for a network connection in computer system comprising:

(a) a computer having a memory;

(b) an application executing on the computer, wherein the application is configured to;

(i) determine an Internet Protocol (IP) address of a server;

(ii) determine a first number based on the IP address; and

(iii) calculate a second number to be used as the port number by adding an interval value to the first number.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first number is a four (4) digit number.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first number comprises a left-most digit from each stanza of the IP address.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the application is further configured to repeat the addition of the interval value to the second number if the second number is not available for use as the port number.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the application is further configured to determine if the second number is available for use as a port number by determining if an appropriate response is received from the server.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the appropriate response is not received if a response is not received within a short period of time.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the appropriate response is not received if a signature received from the server does not match a copy of the signature on a client.

20. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second number has a maximum value of 65535.

21. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the application is further configured to store the port number for use in subsequent connection requests.

22. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the application is further configured to authenticate a client by:

validating a domain name; and

validating the client.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein validating the domain name comprises determining if the domain name is in a list of tolerated domains.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein validating the client comprises checking a client identification against a list of tolerated client names.

25. An article of manufacture comprising a program storage medium readable by a computer and embodying one or more instructions executable by the computer to perform a method for determining a port number for a network connection in a computer system, the method comprising:

determining an Internet Protocol (1P) address of a server;

determining a first number based on the IP address; and

calculating a second number to be used as the port number by adding an interval value to the first number.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the first number is a four (4) digit number.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the first number comprises a left-most digit from each stanza of the IP address.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 25, further comprising repeating the addition of the interval value to the second number if the second number is not available for use as the port number.

29. The article of manufacture of claim 28, further comprising determining if the second number is available for use as a port number by determining if an appropriate response is received from the server.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 29, wherein the appropriate response is not received if a response is not received within a short period of time.

31. The article of manufacture of claim 29, wherein the appropriate response is not received if a signature received from the server does not match a copy of the signature on a client.

32. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the second number has a maximum value of 65535.

33. The article of manufacture of claim 25, further comprising storing the port number for use in subsequent connection requests.

34. The article of manufacture of claim 25, further comprising authenticating a client by:

validating a domain name; and

validating the client.

35. The article of manufacture of claim 35, wherein validating the domain name comprises determining if the domain name is in a list of tolerated domains.

36. The article of manufacture of claim 35, wherein validating the client comprises checking a client identification against a list of tolerated client names.