Method for supporting secondary address delivery on remote access servers

• US 6,996,621 B1
• Filed: 12/06/2000
• Issued: 02/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Valtrus Innovations Limited (f/k/a Dolya Holdco 9 Limited) (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: 3Com Corporation (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Joseph, Boby, Borella, Michael S., Grabelsky, David A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wiley, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thanh T
• Application Number:
  US09/731,333
• Time in Patent Office: 1,889 Days
• Field of Search: 709/228, 709/245, 370/352, 370/389
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2525 Translation at a client
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]

Abstract

The present invention provides a method to support the delivery of the IP address of a secondary address server to a dial-up remote access client. The secondary address server may be an RSIP server, with which the client may perform an RSIP negotiation resulting in the client being assigned an IP address associated with the RSIP server.

Claims

1. A method of implementing realm specific Internet protocol in a remote access system, the method comprising the following steps:

(a) establishing a communication connection between a remote access client and a remote access server on a remote access network;

(b) requesting by the remote access client from the remote access server a locally unique network address for communicating with network devices on the remote access network;

(c) receiving by the dialup remote access client from the remote access server on the remote access network a locally unique network address for communicating with network devices on the remote access network;

(d) receiving by the remote access client from the remote access server on the remote access network the locally unique network address of a network device on the remote access network, wherein the network device is enabled for realm specific Internet protocol;

(e) if the remote access client is enabled for realm specific Internet protocol,

(i) requesting by the remote access client from the realm specific Internet protocol enabled network device a globally unique network address and one or more ports to identify the remote access client during communications with an external computer network, using a first protocol;

(ii) receiving the globally unique network address and the one or more ports on the remote access client from the realm specific Internet protocol enabled network device with the first protocol;

(iii) updating entries in an address-to-address table maintained by the realm specific Internet protocol enabled network device on the remote access network to reflect assignment of the globally unique network address and one or more ports to the remote access client; and

(iv) creating a combination network address for the remote access client with the one or more ports and the globally unique network address to identify the remote access client for communications with the external computer network; and

(f) if the remote access client is not enabled for realm specific Internet protocol, using network address translation with the locally unique network address of the remote access client to identify the remote access client for communications with the external computer network.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

(a) sending a request from the remote access client to the realm specific Internet protocol enabled network device;

(b) routing the request from the realm specific Internet protocol enabled network device to the external computer network;

(c) receiving a reply on the realm specific Internet protocol enabled network device for the remote access client on the globally unique network address for the realm specific Internet protocol enabled network device from the combination network address; and

(d) routing the reply from the realm specific Internet protocol enabled network device to the remote access client using the locally unique port from the combination network address.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first protocol is a realm specific Internet protocol comprising a realm specific Internet protocol assign request message, a realm specific Internet protocol assign response message, and a combination network address comprising a locally unique port and an globally unique network address.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the globally unique network address is an Internet protocol address.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the remote access client is a dialup client.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the remote access client is a modem on a computer.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the remote access server comprises a digital signal processing card, a router card and a communications path connecting the digital signal processing card and the router card.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the communications path connecting the digital signal processing card and the router card is a high-speed data bus.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the digital signal processing card comprises a modem and a router.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the remote access network further comprises a RADIUS server and an Internet gateway.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the remote access server comprises a realm specific Internet protocol gateway and an Internet protocol interfaces.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the external computer network is an Internet protocol network.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the external computer network is any of the Internet or an intranet.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the globally unique network address is an Internet protocol address.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the remote access network comprises a local area network.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of receiving the globally unique network address and the one or more ports on the remote access client comprises transmitting the globally unique IP address and the one or more ports from the remote access server to the remote access client using an IPCP next server option.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the IPCP next server option comprises a data packet comprising a type field, a length field, a server type field, an address type field and an address field.

18. A computer readable medium having stored therein instructions for causing a central processing unit to execute a method comprising the following steps:

(a) establishing a communication connection between a remote access client and a remote access server on a remote access network;

(b) requesting by the remote access client from the remote access server a locally unique network address for communicating with network devices on the remote access network;

(c) receiving by the remote access client from the remote access server on the remote access network a locally unique network address for communicating with network devices on the remote access network;

(d) receiving by the remote access client from the remote access server on the remote access network the locally unique network address of a network device on the remote access network, wherein the network device is enabled for realm specific Internet protocol;

(e) if the remote access client is enabled for realm specific Internet protocol,

(i) requesting by the remote access client from the realm specific Internet protocol enabled network device a globally unique network address and one or more ports to identify the remote access client during communications with an external computer network, using a first protocol;

(ii) receiving the globally unique network address and the one or more ports on the remote access client from the realm specific Internet protocol enabled network device with the first protocol;

(iii) updating entries in an address-to-address table maintained by the realm specific Internet protocol enabled network device on the remote access network to reflect assignment of the globally unique network address and one or more ports to the remote access client; and

(iv) creating a combination network address for the remote access client with the one or more ports and the globally unique network address to identify the remote access client for communications with the external computer network; and

(f) if the remote access client is not enabled for realm specific Internet protocol, using network address translation with the locally unique network address of the remote access client to identify the remote access client for communications with the external computer network.