Creating and managing persistent connections

• US 6,341,312 B1
• Filed: 12/16/1998
• Issued: 01/22/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cloud Software Group Switzerland GmbH
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Peebles, Thomas Frank, French, Steven Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, VIET DUY
• Application Number:
  US09/213,326
• Time in Patent Office: 1,133 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 709/225, 709/227, 709/229, 709/230, 709/237, 709/318, 709/327, 709/329
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226

Abstract

Persistent network connections created by the inventive mechanism survive logoff and persist across logon. A persistent connection is created when a network connection is established (or when an existing connection is modified) using a simple command line or GUI interface. Information supplied via the interface enables the mechanism to establish, dynamically, a different security context for each given persistent connection, and this security context is “flexible” in that it may differ from the user'"'"'s logon id and password. If a user were currently authenticated for a given persistent network connection before a network failure, the user, upon connect, is allowed access to the network connection without requiring further authentication.

Claims

1. A method for managing persistent network connections to network devices, comprising the steps of:

following user logon, designating a selected network connection as persistent;

saving a security context associated with the selected network connection, wherein the security context optionally differs from a security context associated with the user logon;

responsive to a given network event, using the saved security context to manage the selected network connection.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the given network event terminates the selected network connection.

3. The method as described in claim 2 wherein the saved security context is used to facilitate reestablishment of the selected network connection.

4. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the given network event is a transient interruption of the selected network connection.

5. The method as described in claim 4 wherein the saved security context is used to reconnect the user to the network device transparently.

6. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the given network event is a user logoff.

7. The method as described in claim 6 further including the step of ignoring the selected network connection during processing of the user logoff.

8. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the network device is selected from the group of devices consisting essentially of drives, printers, modems and named pipes.

9. The method as described in claim 1 further including the step of deleting the selected network connection at a later time.

10. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the selected network connection is a previously-established network connection that is modified to be designated as persistent.

11. The method as described in claim 1 further including the step of validating a user'"'"'s authority to manage persistent connections prior to the designating step.

12. A method for managing persistent network connections to network devices, comprising the steps of:

designating selected network connections as persistent;

responsive to a network event that ordinarily terminates a network connection, determining whether the network connection is persistent; and

if the network connection has been designated persistent, maintaining network resources needed to maintain the persistent network connection.

13. The method as described in claim 12 wherein a persistent network connection is maintained for a selected network device and the step of determining comprises examining a device type modifier for the selected network device.

16. The method as described in claim 12 wherein the network device is selected from the group of devices consisting essentially of drives, printers, modems and named pipes.

14. A method for managing persistent network connections to network devices, comprising the steps of:

designating selected network connections as persistent;

responsive to a network event that ordinarily terminates a network connection, determining whether the network connection is persistent;

if the network connection has been designated persistent, maintaining network resources needed to maintain the persistent network connection;

in the event of a network failure in which network connections cannot be maintained, upon restart of the network, determining a set of persistent network connections to be restarted;

determining a security context for each of the set of persistent network connections; and

restarting each of the set of persistent network connections with an appropriate security context.

15. The method as described in claim 14 further comprising the steps of:

determining whether a user was currently authenticated for a given persistent network connection before network failure; and

if so, allowing access to the network connection without requiring further authentication.

17. A computer program product in a computer-readable medium for managing network connections in a client machine, comprising:

means for designating selected network connections as persistent;

means responsive to a network event that ordinarily terminates a network connection for determining whether the network connection is persistent; and

means responsive to the determining means for maintaining network resources needed to maintain the persistent network connection.

18. The computer program product as described in claim 17 wherein a persistent network connection is maintained for a selected network device and the means for determining comprises means for examining a device type modifier for the selected network device.

19. A computer program product in a computer-readable medium for managing network connections in a client machine, comprising:

means for designating selected network connections as persistent;

means responsive to a network event that ordinarily terminates a network connection for determining whether the network connection is persistent;

means responsive to the determining means for maintaining network resources needed to maintain the persistent network connection;

means for determining and saving a security context for each of the set of persistent network connections; and

means for restarting each of the set of persistent network connections with an appropriate security context.

20. A computer program product in a computer-readable medium for managing network connections in a client machine, comprising:

means for designating selected network connections as persistent;

means responsive to a network event that ordinarily terminates a network connection for determining whether the network connection is persistent; and

means responsive to the determining means for maintaining network resources needed to maintain the persistent network connection,

wherein the network device is selected from the group of devices consisting essentially of drives, printers, modems and named pipes.

21. A client connected to a computer network having a set of servers that support network devices, comprising:

a processor;

an operating system;

a network redirector; and

means cooperating with the network redirector for establishing and managing persistent connections, comprising;

means for designating selected network connections as persistent;

means responsive to a network event that ordinarily terminates a network connection for determining whether the network connection is persistent; and

means responsive to the determining means for maintaining network resources needed to maintain the persistent network connection.