Network subnet relocation

• US 20040034695A1
• Filed: 08/01/2003
• Published: 02/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: University of Southern California
• Original Assignee: University of Southern California
• Inventors: Eggert, Lars, Touch, Joseph Dean, Wang, Yu-Shun
• Granted Patent: US 7,653,746 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/209
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/256 NAT traversal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2592 using tunnelling or encapsulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5061 Pools of addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/133 Protocols for remote procedure calls [RPC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A system and method for relocating a subnet to a remote location includes a tether router coupled to an anchor router via a link. The tether router is coupled to a plurality of nodes, each node corresponding to a network address of a plurality of network addresses allocated to a user. The plurality of network addresses is allocated to the user by a lease broker. The link may include a private tunnel for traversing a mechanism that otherwise hinders communication from the tether router to the anchor router, such as a network address translation (NAT) mechanism.

Claims

1. A method for relocating a network subnet to a remote location, comprising:

allocating a block of routable network addresses for use in a relocated network subnet at the remote location;

establishing a link from the network subnet to the relocated network subnet; and

configuring one or more services at the relocated network subnet.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the link comprises a tunnel.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the routable network addresses comprise static IP addresses.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the routable network addresses are contiguous.

5. The method of claim 1 where the allocating a block of routable network addresses is performed by a lease broker.

6. The method of claim 1 where the tunnel is configured to traverse a mechanism that encumbers communication.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the mechanism that encumbers communication comprises a NAT.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more services comprises a routing configuration at the relocated network subnet for enabling communications over the tunnel.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more services comprises a DNS server.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more services comprises a DHCP server.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more services comprises a mail server.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the tunnel is configured to automatically reconnect in response to a change in an address associated with one of the components of the tunnel.

13. A system for subnet relocation, comprising:

an anchor router coupled to a network;

a tether router;

a remote subnet coupled to the tether router, the subnet comprising a plurality of nodes, the nodes corresponding to a block of routable network addresses; and

a link between the anchor router and the tether router.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the link comprises one or more tunnels.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the tunnel is configured to transmit packets comprising an encapsulation protocol.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the tunnel is configured to traverse a mechanism that encumbers communication.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the mechanism comprises a NAT.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the block of routable network addresses is allocated to a user by a lease broker.

19. A computing apparatus for establishing a remote subnet, comprising:

a tether router; and

a processor configured to establish a tunnel from the tether router to an anchor router.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein a block of addresses are allocated to a user, the block of addresses corresponding to the remote subnet, the tether router for coupling to the remote subnet.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the processor is further configured to traverse a mechanism that encumbers communication.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the mechanism comprises a NAT.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the processor is configured to establish the tunnel such that the tunnel automatically reconnects in response to an event that causes a temporary disconnection of the tunnel.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein a heartbeat signal is periodically emitted across the tunnel.