Remote communication server with automatic filtering
First Claim
1. An apparatus which manages transfer of multi-destination packets from a local network to a remote node, comprising:
- a first port for communication with the remote node;
a second port for communication with the local network;
incoming packet sender resource, coupled to the first and second ports, which forward packets originated by the remote node from the first port to the second port;
learning logic, coupled with the incoming packet sender resource, which learns and stores identifiers of network protocols associated with packets forwarded from the first port to the second port;
filtering logic, coupled with the second port and the learning logic, which identifies network protocols associated with multi-destination packets originated in the local network, and selects multi-destination packets in response to identified network protocols and the stored identifiers of network protocols, to be forwarded to the remote node; and
outgoing packet sender resource, coupled with the filtering logic and to the first and second ports, which forward multi-destination packets selected by the filtering logic from the second port to the first port.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Unneeded broadcast and multicast packets are blocked by a remote access server from pass through on a private or switched circuit communication link to a remote node of an corporate LAN, if they relate to protocols not in use by the remote node, or involve information which the remote node does not need. The remote access server includes logic which automatically learns the protocols which the remote node is relying upon, and configures filtering logic for the multi-destination packets in response to the learned protocols. The server executes a method for managing pass through of multi-destination packets, including (1) learning a protocol used by the remote node in response to a packet transmitted to the network by the remote node; (2) storing an identifier of the learned protocol; (3) identifying a protocol of a multi-destination packet in the network; and (4) selecting multi-destination packets to be forwarded to the remote node in response to the stored identifier of the protocol in use by the remote node, and the identified protocol of the multi-destination packet. In addition, a technique for bypasssing the protocol based filtering includes storing addresses provided by the remote node in a multicast address table of multi-destination packets to be forwarded to the remote node; and selecting multi-destination packets to be forwarded to the remote node if the multi-destination packet has a multicast address in the multicast address table.
171 Citations
35 Claims
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1. An apparatus which manages transfer of multi-destination packets from a local network to a remote node, comprising:
- a first port for communication with the remote node;
a second port for communication with the local network; incoming packet sender resource, coupled to the first and second ports, which forward packets originated by the remote node from the first port to the second port; learning logic, coupled with the incoming packet sender resource, which learns and stores identifiers of network protocols associated with packets forwarded from the first port to the second port; filtering logic, coupled with the second port and the learning logic, which identifies network protocols associated with multi-destination packets originated in the local network, and selects multi-destination packets in response to identified network protocols and the stored identifiers of network protocols, to be forwarded to the remote node; and outgoing packet sender resource, coupled with the filtering logic and to the first and second ports, which forward multi-destination packets selected by the filtering logic from the second port to the first port. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
- a first port for communication with the remote node;
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16. A method for managing pass through of multi-destination packets from a network across a communication link to a remote node, comprising:
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learning a protocol used by the remote node in response to a packet transmitted to the network by the remote node and providing a learned protocol identifier; storing the learned protocol identifier; identifying protocols of multi-destination packets originated in the network; and selecting a particular multi-destination packet received from the network to be forwarded to the remote node in response to a relationship between the learned protocol identifier and the protocol of the particular multi-destination packet. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. An apparatus which manages transfer of broadcast and multicast packets from a local area network to a remote node, comprising:
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a first port which serves a switched network link which provides a path to the remote node; a second port which serves the local area network; incoming packet sender resource, coupled to the first and second ports, which forward packets originated by the remote node from the first port to the second port; learning logic, coupled with the incoming packet sender resource, which learns network protocols associated with packets forwarded from the first port to the second port in response to protocol specific information in the packets, and stores identifiers of learned protocols;
filtering logic, coupled with the second port and the learning logic, including a plurality of protocol specific filters, and logic for enabling and disabling the protocol specific filters in response to the stored identifiers of network protocols, the filtering logic identifying network protocols associated with broadcast and multicast packets originated in the local network in response to protocol specific formats of the packets, and selects broadcast and multicast packets to be forwarded to the remote node in response to identified network protocols and the enabled and disabled protocol specific filters; andoutgoing packet sender resource, coupled with the first and second ports and the filtering logic, which forward unicast packets addressed to the remote node and which forward broadcast and multicast packets selected by the filtering logic from the second port to the first port. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification