Hierarchical protocol classification engine

• US 20030131116A1
• Filed: 06/21/2002
• Published: 07/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Sikka, Namit, Rhoton, King, Jain, Hemant Kumar
• Granted Patent: US 7,765,313 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5602 Bandwidth control in ATM Networks, e.g. leaky bucket
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/18 Protocol analysers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2475 for supporting traffic characterised by the type of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/31 by tagging of packets, e.g. using discard eligibility [DE] bits
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2503 Translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/06 Notations for structuring of protocol data, e.g. abstract syntax notation one [ASN.1]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/325 in the network layer [OSI layer 3], e.g. X.25 H04L69/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/326 in the transport layer [OSI layer 4] H04L69/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A classification engine is capable of receiving a plurality of protocol data units (PDUs) and performing a tree-based classification on the PDUs. The classification engine includes: input means for receiving the PDUs; parsing means capable of parsing the PDUs to generate an abstracted protocol structure for at least one of the PDUs; classifier capable of performing the tree-based classification, said classifier being capable of enforcing policy using the abstracted protocol structure; and output means for transmitting the PDUs.

Claims

1. A classification engine capable of receiving a plurality of protocol data units (PDUs) and performing a tree-based classification on the PDUs, the classification engine comprising:

input means for receiving the PDUs;

parsing means capable of parsing the PDUs to generate an abstracted protocol structure for at least one of the PDUs;

classifier capable of performing the tree-based classification, said classifier being capable of enforcing policy using the abstracted protocol structure; and

output means for transmitting the PDUs.

2. The classification engine of claim 1, wherein the classifier comprises means for performing network address translation (NAT) on said at least one of the PDUs.

3. The classification engine of claim 1, wherein the classifier comprises means for performing firewall decision on said at least one of the PDUs.

4. The classification engine of claim 1, wherein the classifier comprises tagging means for tagging said at least one of the PDUs with at least one tag.

5. The classification engine of claim 4, wherein the tagging means tags at least one of the PDUs with at least one tag for quality of service (QoS) determination.

6. The classification engine of claim 5, wherein the output means transmit at least one of the PDUs to a QoS engine for QoS determination using said at least one tag for QoS determination.

7. The classification engine of claim 1, wherein the PDUs comprise at least one selected from a group consisting of IP packets, ATM cells and Ethernet frames.

8. The classification engine of claim 1, wherein the classifier comprises at least one protocol classifier selected from a group consisting of an IP classifier, a TCP classifier, an UDP classifier, an ICMP classifier, an H.225 classifier, an H.245 classifier and an FTP classifier, wherein the policy enforcement of the PDUs of a protocol is performed by the protocol classifier of the same protocol.

9. A method of processing a PDU in a classification engine, the method comprising:

receiving the PDU;

parsing the PDU to generate an abstracted protocol structure for the PDU;

performing a tree-based classification on the PDU;

enforcing policy using the abstracted protocol structure; and

transmitting the PDU.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising performing network address translation for the PDU.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising performing firewall decision for the PDU.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising tagging the PDU with at least one tag.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising performing QoS determination for the PDU using said at least one tag.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the classification engine comprises at least one protocol classifier selected from a group consisting of an IP classifier, a TCP classifier, an UDP classifier, an ICMP classifier, an H.225 classifier, an H.245 classifier and an FTP classifier, wherein enforcing policy comprises enforcing policy of the PDU of a protocol with the protocol classifier of the same protocol.

15. A method for performing protocol classification for a PDU (protocol data unit), the method comprising:

receiving the PDU in a classification engine;

applying protocol syntax on the PDU to generate an abstracted protocol structure that corresponds to the PDU;

tagging the PDU with at least one tag;

regenerating the PDU using the abstracted protocol structure and said at least one tag.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising performing network address translation (NAT) for the PDU.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising performing firewall decision for the PDU.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising performing QoS determination for the PDU using said at least one tag.

19. A classification engine capable of receiving and classifying a plurality of protocol data units (PDUs), the classification engine comprising:

means for performing network address translation (NAT) on at least one of the PDUs;

means for performing firewall decision on at least one of the PDUs;

tagging means for tagging at least one of the PDUs with at least one tag for Quality of Service (QoS) determination.

20. The classification engine of claim 19, wherein the classification engine is capable of classifying PDUs of at least one protocol selected from a group consisting of IP, TCP, UDP, ICMP, H.225, H.245 and FTP.