Multi-service VPN network client for mobile device having dynamic failover

• US 8,473,734 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2010
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pulse Secure, LLC (Ivanti Software, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Wei, Yin, Iyer, Subramanian, Campagna, Richard, Wood, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand, Kambiz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Getachew, Abiy
• Application Number:
  US12/968,067
• Publication Number:
  US 20120005477A1
• Time in Patent Office: 924 Days
• Field of Search: 709/153, 709/217
• US Class Current: 713/153
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/164 at the network layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/166 at the transport layer

Abstract

An integrated, multi-service network client for cellular mobile devices is described. The multi-service network client can be deployed as a single software package on cellular mobile network devices to provide integrated services including secure enterprise virtual private network (VPN) connectivity, acceleration, security management including monitored and enforced endpoint compliance, and collaboration services. Once installed on the cellular mobile device, the multi-service client establishes the VPN connection to concurrently include both a layer three (L3) tunnel that uses a first type of transport layer protocol of the operating system and a layer four (L4) tunnel that uses a second type of transport layer protocol of the operating system. The VPN handler determines whether network ports associated with the L3 tunnel are unblocked by an operating system and, when the network ports are unblocked, automatically transitions from the L4 tunnel to the L3 tunnel without terminating the VPN connection.

Claims

1. A cellular mobile device comprising:

a transmitter and receiver to send and receive cellular communications in the form of radio frequency signals;

a microprocessor;

an operating system executing on the microprocessor to provide an operating environment of application software;

a multi-service network client downloaded to the cellular mobile device and registered with the operating system as a single application, wherein the multi-service network client comprises;

a virtual private network (VPN) handler to establish a VPN connection with a remote VPN security device upon authenticating a user to the remove security device, wherein the VPN handler encrypts output network packets and decrypts inbound network packets to securely tunnel the network packets between the cellular mobile device and the remote VPN security device;

a security manager to receive the decrypted inbound network packets from the VPN handler and apply at least one security service to the decrypted network packets; and

a VPN control application that provides a unified user interface that allows a user to configure both the VPN handler and the security manager,

wherein the VPN handler establishes the VPN connection to concurrently include both a layer three (L3) tunnel that uses a first type of transport layer protocol of the operating system and a layer four (L4) tunnel that uses a second type of transport layer protocol of the operating system, and

wherein, after establishing the L3 tunnel and prior to sending data on the L3 tunnel, the VPN handler determines whether network ports associated with the L3 tunnel are unblocked by the operating system and, when the network ports are unblocked, automatically transitions from the L4 tunnel to the L3 tunnel without terminating the VPN connection.

2. The cellular mobile device of claim 1, wherein the first type of transport layer protocol is a connection-less transport protocol and the second type of transport layer protocol is a connection-oriented transport protocol.

3. The cellular mobile device of claim 1,

wherein the VPN handler sends initial data packets of the VPN connection on the L4 tunnel and, after establishing the L3 tunnel and prior to sending data on the L3 tunnel, sends a discovery packet over the L3 tunnel to determine whether network ports associated with the L3 tunnel are unblocked by the operating system, and

wherein the VPN handler automatically transitions from the L4 tunnel to the L3 tunnel when a reply to the discovery packet is received.

4. The cellular mobile device of claim 1,

wherein the multi-service network client comprises a single distribution package, and

wherein the VPN control application presents a unified user interface for configuring anti-virus settings and personal firewall settings of the security manager.

5. The cellular mobile device of claim 1,

wherein the VPN handler comprises a host checker module that inventories a state of the cellular mobile device and builds a health status report, and

wherein the host checker outputs the health status report to the remote VPN security device prior to establishing the VPN connection for determining whether the cellular mobile device is compliant with corporate policies.

6. The cellular mobile device of claim 1, wherein the multi-service network client further comprises a data acceleration module that applies at least one acceleration service to the network packets from the VPN handler.

7. The cellular mobile device of claim 6, wherein the data acceleration module provides a local content cache.

8. The cellular mobile device of claim 6, wherein the data acceleration module provides a client-side decompression service that operates in conjunction with an upstream acceleration device to provide real-time, continuous pattern recognition and compression of data flows within the network packets.

9. The cellular mobile device of claim 6, wherein the data acceleration module provides application-specific protocol optimization for control flows within the network packets.

10. The cellular mobile device of claim 1, wherein the multi-service network client further comprises one or more collaboration components that process the packets from the VPN handler, wherein collaboration components provide collaboration services including at least one of a network meeting, a secure desktop or a document sharing service.

11. The cellular mobile device of claim 1,

wherein the VPN control application provides a user interface that allows a user to disable VPN connectivity, and

wherein, when VPN connectivity is disabled, the VPN handler exchanges the network packets with the operating system and transparently provides the packets to the security manager for application of the security service.

12. The cellular mobile device of claim 1, wherein the user interface of the VPN control applications allows the user to submit credentials and instruct the VPN handler to dynamically instantiate the secure VPN connection or deconstruct an existing VPN connection.

13. The cellular mobile device of claim 1,

wherein, upon establishing the VPN connection, the VPN control application receives a web-based home page from the secure VPN device via an Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) response,

wherein the VPN control application dynamically parses HyperText Markup Language (HTML) bookmark links from the HTTPS response and renders a bookmark window using input controls native to the cellular mobile device, where each of the input controls corresponds to a different one of the bookmark links parsed from the HTML response received from the secure VPN gateway, and

wherein, upon selection of one of the input controls, the VPN control application formulates and outputs an appropriate HTTP string to the secure VPN device as if a corresponding HTML link were selected by the user.

14. The cellular mobile device of claim 13,

wherein the VPN control application detects a bookmark within the HTML response corresponding to a webmail for the user, and

wherein, upon detecting the bookmark for the webmail, the VPN control application dynamically constructs the user interface to have an input control for launching a native email client of the cellular mobile device to access the webmail without launching a web browser.

15. The cellular mobile device of claim 1, wherein the VPN handler and the VPN control application are configured to be independently upgradable.

16. The cellular mobile device of claim 1,

wherein the VPN handler establishes the VPN connection as an Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) connection over User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and

wherein the VPN handler includes a compression module that applies Lempel-Ziv (LZ) compression in conjunction with the IPSec connection to tunnel encrypted IP packets to the remote VPN security device.

17. The cellular mobile device of claim 1,

wherein the VPN handler establishes an Secure Socket Layer (SSL) control channel with the secure VPN gateway and, upon a successful authentication, receives a session cookie with a unique identifier,

wherein, in the event communication with the remote VPN security device is temporarily lost, the VPN handler performs a fast reconnect by issuing the session cookie to the secure VPN gateway, and

wherein, when performing the fast reconnect, the VPN handler identifies a set of transport mechanisms currently available to the cellular mobile device and, when only a cellular network is available and not a wireless packet-based connection, the VPN handler defers the fast reconnect until application-layer data is received from a user application and ready to be sent via the VPN connection.

18. A system comprising:

a virtual private network (VPN) security device coupled to a packet network;

a cellular mobile device comprising a microprocessor, an operating system executing on the microprocessor to provide an operating environment of application software, and a multi-service network client registered with the operating system as a single application,

wherein the multi-service network client comprises;

a VPN handler to exchange network packets with the operating system, wherein the VPN handler establishes a VPN connection with a remote VPN security device of an enterprise and processes to network packets for tunneling between the cellular mobile device and the remote VPN security device; and

a security manager to receive the network packets from the VPN handler and apply at least one security service to the network packets,

a VPN control application that provides a unified user interface that allows a user to configure both the VPN handler and the security manager,

wherein the VPN security device presents an interface by which an administrator defines a plurality of different roles for the user,

wherein upon authenticating the user, the VPN security device selects a subset of the roles for the user, and

wherein the VPN security device controls access to one or more protected resources by the user based on the selected subset of the roles.

19. A method comprising:

receiving, with a cellular mobile device from an electronic repository, a single distribution software package that includes a multi-service network client, wherein the multi-service network client includes a virtual private network (VPN) handler, a security manager; and

a VPN control application that provides a unified user interface that allows a user to configure both the VPN handler and the security manager;

installing the multi-service network client on the cellular mobile device including registering the VPN handler with an operating system of the cellular mobile device, wherein the VPN handler provides a single point of entry for network packets from the operating system to apply VPN services with the VPN handler and security services with the security manager;

establishing, with the VPN handler, the VPN connection to concurrently include both a layer three (L3) tunnel that uses a first type of transport layer protocol of the operating system and a layer four (L4) tunnel that uses a second type of transport layer protocol of the operating system;

after establishing the L3 tunnel and prior to sending data on the L3 tunnel, determining, with the VPN handler, whether network ports associated with the L3 tunnel are unblocked by the operating system; and

when the network ports are unblocked by the operating system, automatically transitioning from the L4 tunnel to the L3 tunnel with the VPN handler without terminating the VPN connection.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

exchanging network packets between the VPN handler and the operating system for communication via the VPN connection.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

processing the network packets with the VPN handler to tunnel the packets between the cellular mobile device and the remote VPN security device over the VPN connection; and

while processing the packets with the VPN handler, routing the packets to the security manager and applying at least one security service to the network packets with the security manager.

22. A cellular mobile device comprising:

a transmitter and receiver to send and receive cellular communications in the form of radio frequency signals;

a microprocessor;

an operating system executing on the microprocessor to provide an operating environment of application software;

a multi-service network client downloaded to the cellular mobile device and registered with the operating system as a single application, wherein the multi-service network client comprises;

a virtual private network (VPN) handler to establish a VPN connection with a remote VPN security device upon authenticating a user to the remove security device, wherein the VPN handler encrypts output network packets and decrypts inbound network packets to securely tunnel the network packets between the cellular mobile device and the remote VPN security device; and

a VPN control application that provides a unified user interface that allows a user to configure both the VPN handler and a security manager,

wherein the VPN handler establishes the VPN connection to concurrently include both a layer three (L3) tunnel that uses a first type of transport layer protocol of the operating system and a layer four (L4) tunnel that uses a second type of transport layer protocol of the operating system, and

wherein, after establishing the L3 tunnel and prior to sending data on the L3 tunnel, the VPN handler determines whether network ports associated with the L3 tunnel are unblocked by the operating system and, when the network ports are unblocked, automatically transitions from the L4 tunnel to the L3 tunnel without terminating the VPN connection.

23. The cellular mobile device of claim 22, wherein the multi-service network client comprises the security manager to receive the decrypted inbound network packets from the VPN handler and apply at least one security service to the decrypted network packets.

24. The cellular mobile device of claim 22, wherein the multi-service network client further comprises a data acceleration module that applies at least one acceleration service to the network packets from the VPN handler.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a downloadable distribution package comprising software program code to execute a multi-service network client on a processor within a cellular device, wherein the multi-service network client comprises:

a virtual private network (VPN) handler to establish a VPN connection with a remote VPN security device upon authenticating a user to the remove security device, wherein the VPN handler encrypts output network packets and decrypts inbound network packets to securely tunnel the network packets between the cellular mobile device and the remote VPN security device;

a security manager to receive the decrypted inbound network packets from the VPN handler and apply at least one security service to the decrypted network packets; and

a VPN control application that provides a unified user interface that allows a user to configure both the VPN handler and the security manager,

wherein the VPN handler comprises software program code to establish the VPN connection to concurrently include both a layer three (L3) tunnel that uses a first type of transport layer protocol of the operating system and a layer four (L4) tunnel that uses a second type of transport layer protocol of the operating system, and

wherein the VPN handler comprises software program code to determine, after establishing the L3 tunnel and prior to sending data on the L3 tunnel, whether network ports associated with the L3 tunnel are unblocked by the operating system and, when the network ports are unblocked, automatically transitions from the L4 tunnel to the L3 tunnel without terminating the VPN connection.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the first type of transport layer protocol is a connection-less transport protocol and the second type of transport layer protocol is a connection-oriented transport protocol.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25,

wherein the VPN handler sends initial data packets of the VPN connection on the L4 tunnel and, after establishing the L3 tunnel and prior to sending data on the L3 tunnel, sends a discovery packet over the L3 tunnel, and

wherein the VPN handler automatically transitions from the L4 tunnel to the L3 tunnel when a reply to the discovery packet is received.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25,

wherein the multi-service network client comprises a single distribution package, and

wherein the VPN control application presents a unified user interface for configuring anti-virus settings and personal firewall settings of the security manager.