Relaying messages through a firewall

• US 20070022164A1
• Filed: 07/20/2005
• Published: 01/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Madan, Umesh, Nog, Saurab, Ruiz-Meraz, Cesar, Lee, Alfred
• Granted Patent: US 7,627,681 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/166 at the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities

Abstract

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for relaying messages through firewalls. A message relay negotiates first communication parameters with relay components inside a firewall and (potentially different) second communication parameters with applications outside the firewall. The message relay receives a message from an outside application in accordance with the second negotiated parameters and maps an electronic address in the received message to an inside application. The message relay transforms the message and sends the transformed message over an established connection through the firewall to a relay component in accordance with the first negotiated parameters. The relay component receives the transformed message and transforms the transformed message back into the message. The relay component delivers the message to the inside application in accordance with the second negotiated parameters.

Claims

1. At a message relay outside a firewall, the message relay configured to:

communicate with applications inside the firewall, a method for relaying a message through the firewall, the method comprising;

an act of negotiating first communication parameters with a relay component inside the firewall, the relay component configured to receive messages for an inside application that is inside the firewall;

an act of negotiating second communication parameters with an outside application outside the firewall;

an act of receiving a message from the outside application in accordance with the second negotiated parameters, the received message including an electronic address of a destination for the received message;

an act of mapping the electronic address to an established connection for the inside application;

an act of transforming the message into a transformed message such that the transformed message can be sent to the relay component in accordance with the first negotiated parameters; and

an act of sending the transformed message through the firewall to the relay component in accordance with the first negotiated parameters.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

an act of receiving registration data from the inside application, the registration data indicating that the inside service is to receive messages having a destination that corresponds to the electronic address.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

an act of establishing a connection from the message relay, through the firewall, to the inside service.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the act of sending the transformed message to the relay component comprises an act of sending the transformed message over the established connection.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of negotiating first communication parameters with a relay component inside the firewall comprises an act of negotiating first communication parameters selected from among encoding parameters, compression parameters, encryption parameters, transfer protocol parameters, security parameters, ordering guarantee parameters, to be used for communication between the message relay and the relay component.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of negotiating second communication parameters with an outside application outside the firewall comprises an act of negotiating second communication parameters selected from among encoding parameters, compression parameters, encryption parameters, transfer protocol parameters, security parameters, ordering guarantee parameters, to be used for communication between the message relay and outside application.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein an act of receiving a message from the outside application in accordance with the second negotiated parameters comprises an ac to of receiving a SOAP message that includes a URI indicating the destination for the SOAP message.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of mapping the electronic address to an established connection for the inside application comprises an act of mapping a URI to a connection through the firewall.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of transforming the message into a transformed message comprises an act of encapsulated a first SOAP message inside a second SOAP message.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first negotiated parameters indicated increased security relative to the second negotiation parameters such that communication through the firewall has increased security.

11. At a computer system inside a firewall, the computer system including a message relay component configured to communicate with a message relay outside the firewall, a method for receiving a message that was relayed through the firewall, the method comprising:

an act of negotiating first communication parameters with the message relay outside the firewall, the first negotiated parameters for use when receiving messages that are to be delivered to an inside application inside the firewall;

an act of receiving a transformed message from the message relay, the transformed message relayed on an established connection through the firewall in accordance with the first negotiated communication parameters, the transformed message transformed from a message that originated at an outside application outside the firewall, the message having been sent from the outside application to the message relay in accordance with second negotiated communication parameters negotiated between the outside application and the message relay, the message having being transformed into the transformed message at the message relay;

an act of transforming the transformed message back into the message; and

an act of delivering the message to the inside application in accordance with the second negotiated parameters.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the act of an act of negotiating first communication parameters with the message relay outside the firewall comprises:

an act of establishing a connection between the relay component and the message relay through the firewall; and

an act of sending registration data indicating that the inside service is to receive messages having a destination that corresponds a specified electronic address.

13. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the act of negotiating first communication parameters with the message relay outside the firewall comprises an act of negotiating first communication parameters selected from among encoding parameters, compression parameters, encryption parameters, transfer protocol parameters, security parameters, ordering guarantee parameters, to be used for communication between the relay component and the message relay.

14. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the act of receiving a transformed message from the message relay comprises an act of receiving a SOAP message that encapsulates another SOAP message.

15. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the act of transforming the transformed message back into the message comprises an act of exposes a first SOAP message that was encapsulated in a second SOAP message.

16. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

an act of receiving a reply message in accordance with connection bound bi-directional communication between the inside application and the outside application.

17. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the first negotiated parameters indicated increased security relative to the second negotiation parameters such that communication through the firewall has increased security.

18. A system for relaying messages through a firewall, the system comprising:

A computer system including;

one or more processors;

system memory; and

one or more computer readable media having stored thereon a message relay for relaying messages through a firewall, the message relay configured to;

negotiate communication parameters with one or more relay components inside the firewall, the relay components configured to receive messages for corresponding inside applications that are inside the firewall;

negotiate communication parameters with one or more outside applications outside the firewall;

receive messages from outside applications in accordance with negotiated parameters negotiated with the outside applications, received messages including an electronic addresses of a destination for the received messages;

map electronic addresses to established connections for the inside applications;

transform received messages into transformed messages such that transformed messages can be sent through the firewall to relay components in accordance with negotiated parameters negotiated with the relay components; and

send transformed messages through the firewall to relay components in accordance with negotiated parameters negotiated with the relay components.

19. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the message relay being configured to negotiated communication parameters comprises the message relay being configured to negotiate communication parameters selected from among encoding parameters, compression parameters, encryption parameters, transfer protocol parameters, security parameters, ordering guarantee parameters.

20. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the message relay being configured transform received messages into transformed messages comprises an act of the message relay being configured to encapsulate received SOAP messages within other SOAP messages for transfer through the firewall.