VIRTUAL INLINE CONFIGURATION FOR A NETWORK DEVICE

• US 20120093156A1
• Filed: 07/19/2011
• Published: 04/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Orbital Data Corporation (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: BUDHANI, HASEEB, SUTTER, PAUL G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,100,449 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/56 Packet switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams

Abstract

A performance enhancing proxy network device is configured to operate in a virtual inline mode, in which selected network traffic is redirected to and through the network device by a router using simple routing policies. In this way, the network device can be coupled to the router in series but can still operate as if it were physically connected inline.

Claims

1. A method for processing a packet, destined to a computing device, via a network device coupled in parallel to a router, the method comprising:

receiving, by a network device coupled to a router, a packet having a destination internet protocol (IP) address of a computing device;

processing, by the network device, the packet while preserving the destination IP address of the packet to specify the computing device;

identifying, by the network device, the router that diverted the packet to the network device; and

transmitting, by the network device, the processed packet to the router for transmission to the computing device, the processed packet transmitted with the destination internet protocol (IP) address of the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the network device, the packet diverted by the router via Internet Protocol (IP) layer routing.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising diverting, by the router, the packet according to the destination IP address of the packet matching a policy based IP routing rule of a set of IP routing rules instead of changing the destination IP address of the packet to an IP address of the network device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending, by the router, the processed packet to the computing device identified by the destination IP address.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising preserving, by the network selection, the selection of the router from load balancing applied to a plurality of routers.

6. The method of claim 1, farther comprising processing, by the network device, the packet by performing enhancement processing for which the network device is designed.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing, by the network device, the packet by transforming the packet.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing, by the network device, the packet by compressing the packet.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the network device is a performance enhancing proxy.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the network device, the packet diverted by the router based on one or more of the following:

direction, subnet or service.

11. A system for processing a packet, destined to a computing device, via a network device coupled in parallel to a router, the system comprising:

a network device coupled to a router, the network device receiving a packet having a destination internet protocol (IP) address of a computing device; and

wherein the network device processes the packet while preserving the destination IP address of the packet to specify the computing device, identifies the router that diverted the packet to the network device and transmits the processed packet to the router for transmission to the computing device, the processed packet transmitted with the destination internet protocol (IP) address of the computing device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the network device receives the packet diverted by the router via Internet Protocol (IP) layer routing.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the router diverts the packet according to the destination IP address of the packet matching a policy based IP routing rule of a set of IP routing rules instead of changing the destination IP address of the packet to an IP address of the network device.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the router transmits the processed packet to the computing device identified by the destination IP address.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the network device preserves selection of the router from load balancing applied to a plurality of routers.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the network device processes the packet by performing enhancement processing for which the network device is designed.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the network device processes the packet by transforming the packet.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the network device processes the packet by compressing the packet.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the network device is a performance enhancing proxy.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the network device receives the packet diverted by the router based on one or more of the following:

direction, subnet or service.