Wide area network with high quality of service

• US 8,595,478 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2007
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AlterWAN, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AlterWAN, Inc.
• Inventors: Haney, Richard D.
• Primary Examiner(s): REVAK, CHRISTOPHER A
• Application Number:
  US11/942,616
• Publication Number:
  US 20080219254A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,199 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 713/153
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/12 Shortest path evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/20 Hop count for routing purposes, e.g. TTL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/308 Route determination based on user's profile, e.g. premium users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/726 Reserving resources in multiple paths to be used simultaneously by balancing the load H04L47/125
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/354 for supporting virtual local area networks [VLAN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0209 Architectural arrangements, e.g. perimeter networks or demilitarized zones

Abstract

A wide area network using the internet as a backbone utilizing specially selected ISX/ISP providers whose routers route packets of said wide area network along private tunnels through the internet comprised of high bandwidth, low hop-count data paths. Firewalls are provided at each end of each private tunnel which recognize IP packets addressed to devices at the other end of the tunnel and encapsulate these packets in other IP packets which have a header which includes as the destination address, the IP address of the untrusted side of the firewall at the other end of the tunnel. The payload sections of these packets are the original IP packets and are encrypted and decrypted at both ends of the private tunnel using the same encryption algorithm using the same key or keys.

Claims

1. A method of operation in a router that is part of a wide area network, the method comprising:

filtering inbound data packets received on an input port of the router to identify data packets that correspond to a selected group of addresses relative to data packets that are not within the selected group of addresses; and

providing priority routing for the data packets in the selected group of addresses, including

performing a look-up into a routing table applicable to the selected group of addresses to identify one or more transmission paths that meet a minimum transmission requirement relative to other available transmission paths, and

routing the data packets to at least one cooperating service provider using one of the identified one or more transmission paths.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said packets contain an encrypted payload.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data packets are Internet Protocol data packets.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wide area network includes at least one of the Internet, an Internet Private path, or a local loop.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data packets includes at least one of audio, video, text or multimedia data.

6. A method comprising:

establishing a path for transmitting data over a wide area network including

defining a route set consisting of one or more data paths that connect to a cooperating service provider, each data path passing through a routers along the path,

causing the router to filter incoming packets to identify traffic corresponding to a group of addresses, and

for the identified traffic, perform a look-up into a routing table dedicated to the group of addresses, the routing table representing available transmission paths that each satisfy a minimum transmission requirement relative to other available transmission paths; and

routing the identified traffic based on the routing table.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising prioritizing the transmission of the identified traffic relative to other traffic.

8. The method of claim 6, where the routing table represents a set of the available transmission paths meeting the minimum transmission requirement where transmission paths in the set are also associated with a minimum bandwidth, and where the method further comprises routing the identified traffic based on the set.

9. The method of claim 6, where the routing table represents a set of the available transmission paths meeting the minimum transmission requirement, where transmission paths in the set are also associated with a minimum Quality of Service (QOS) criteria, said miniumum QoS criteria including an attribute that includes one of latency, errors in transmission, jitter or delay, and where the method further comprises routing the identified traffic based on the set.

10. The method of claim 9, where the attribute includes latency, and where the latency is dependent on a number of hops associated with a respective data path connecting to the cooperating service provider.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising dynamically changing the table.

12. The method of claim 11, where dynamically changing the table includes changing the table responsive to at least one of

change associated with an available transmission path;

and

fault-tolerance criteria.

13. The method of claim 6, where causing the router to filter incoming packets includes receiving data packets having an encrypted payload and causing the router to filter the incoming packets without decrypting the encrypted payload.

14. The method of claim 6, further comprising collecting information from traffic and aggregating the information in a manner adapted for usage-based billing.

15. The method of claim 6, where the data packets include at least one of audio, video, text or multimedia data.

16. The method of claim 6, where the minimum transmission requirement includes a minimum bandwidth requirement, where the routing table represents available transmission paths meeting the minimum bandwidth requirement, and where the method further comprises routing the identified traffic using at least one available transmission path meeting the minimum bandwidth requirement.

17. The method of claim 6, where establishing a path for transmitting data over a wide area network further includes identifying a load, and where identifying a set of one or more transmission paths meeting the minimum transmission requirement includes identifying a set of known locations from the routing table, and pruning the set of known locations by eliminating from the set locations not associated with bandwidth sufficient to meet the load.

18. A method of routing traffic to be transmitted over a wide area network, comprising:

receiving at least one packet;

identifying a minimum transmission requirement associated with the at least one packet by matching the at least one packet to a set of one or more predetermined addresses;

identifying a set of one or more transmission paths from a table, the set of one or more transmission paths meeting the minimum transmission requirement;

selecting a transmission path between cooperating service providers from the set based on a minimized link cost; and

transmitting the at least one packet to a cooperating provider using the selected transmission path.

19. The method of claim 18, where identifying the set of one or more transmission paths meeting the minimum transmission requirement includes identifying transmission paths meeting a requirement associated with at least one of quality of service, latency, bandwidth, or hop count.

20. The method of claim 18, where identifying a minimum transmission requirement includes identifying a bandwidth.

21. The method of claim 18, where identifying a minimum transmission requirement includes identifying a load, and where identifying a set of one or more transmission paths meeting the minimum transmission requirement includes identifying a set of known locations from a table, and pruning the set of known locations by eliminating from the set locations not associated with bandwidth sufficient to meet the load.

22. The method of claim 21, where the load is a worst case load.

23. The method of claim 21, implemented in a router, where the known locations comprise a set of participating ISX/ISP locations, and where the known locations further comprise locations that have a point-to-point connection with the router.

24. The method of claim 18, where each of the transmission paths represents a point-to-point routing between two participating service providers using a respective dedicated line.

25. The method of claim 18, where the link cost includes a hop count.

26. The method of claim 18, where the minimized link cost comprises a shortest path length.

27. The method of claim 18, where the minimized link cost includes a minimal number of source-to-designation hops.

28. The method of claim 18, embodied in a router, the router further comprising a first interface and a second interface, the method further comprising receiving the at least one packet via the first interface and transmitting the at least one packet via the second interface.

29. The method of claim 28, where transmitting the at least one packet via the second interface includes selecting a port based on a list of participating ISX/ISP locations, pruned to eliminate locations that do not meet the minimum bandwidth requirement, with the selection of transmission path performed so as to minimize hop count.

30. The method of claim 28, further comprising encrypting the at least one packet prior to the transmitting.

31. The method of claim 28, further comprising encapsulating an encrypted version of the at least one packet and adding a new destination address associated with a trusted site.

32. The method of claim 28, where the router is adapted to be coupled in point-to-point fashion with each of at least two immediate neighbor locations, and where selecting the transmission path includes selecting between the two immediate neighbor locations.

33. The method of claim 28, where the router further includes a DMZ interface.

34. The method of claim 28, where the second interface is a WAN interface.

35. The method of claim 28, where the router is adapted to run in a virtual private network (VPN) process, and where the method further comprises using the VPN process to encrypt the at least one packet, to encapsulate an encrypted version of the at least one packet and to add an IP address for a known destination firewall.

36. The method of claim 18, embodied in a router of a private enterprise, where the first interface represents a private network controlled by the private enterprise.

37. The method of claim 18, where identifying the minimum bandwidth requirement includes for a received packet:

comparing at least one of a source address or a destination address of the received packet with content of a table;

determining whether the received packet represents prioritized traffic;

if the received packet represents prioritized traffic, then performing the identifying of the set of one or more transmission paths, the selecting of the transmission path, and the transmitting of the received packet using the selected transmission path; and

if the received packet does not represent prioritized traffic, then transmitting the received packet to a location not represented by the content of the table.

38. The method of claim 37 embodied in a router, where the method further comprises encrypting the received packet if the received packet represents prioritized traffic, and not encrypting the received packet if the received traffic does not represent prioritized traffic.

39. The method of claim 38, where transmitting the received packet to a location not represented by the content of the table includes transmitting the received traffic to a public internet.

40. The method of claim 18, where the table is a routing table that stores destination IP addresses.

41. The method of claim 18, where each transmission path in the set represents a path associated with preplanned transmission bandwidth to a known location.

42. An apparatus adapted to route traffic to be transmitted over a wide area network, comprising:

an interface operable to receive packets;

means identifying first traffic represented by the received packets that is to be prioritized relative to other traffic;

means for identifying a set of one or more transmission paths from a table, the set of one or more transmission paths meeting a minimum transmission requirement;

an interface to route packets associated with the first traffic to a cooperating service provider using a transmission path selected from the set based on a minimized link cost.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, where the means for identifying the set of one or more transmission paths meeting the minimum transmission requirement includes means for identifying transmission paths meeting a requirement associated with at least one of quality of service, latency, bandwidth, or hop count.

44. The apparatus of claim 42, where the minimum transmission requirement includes a minimum bandwidth requirement, and where each transmission path in the set represents a path associated with preplanned transmission bandwidth to a known location.

45. The apparatus of claim 42, embodied as a router, where each transmission path in the set represents a participating ISX/ISP location having a point-to-point connection with the router.

46. The apparatus of claim 42, where the means is operable to select a port based on a list of participating ISX/ISP locations, pruned to eliminate locations that do not meet the minimum transmission requirement, with the transmission path selected from the set based on minimum hop count.

47. The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising means for encrypting the at least one packet prior to the transmitting.

48. The apparatus of claim 42 embodied in a client enterprise private network.

49. The apparatus of claim 42, embodied in a router, where the table comprises a look-up table stored by the router.

50. The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising means for transmitting the first traffic to one of a first set of locations, and means for transmitting the other traffic to one of a second set of locations.

51. An apparatus, comprising:

a first interface operable to connect to a first network, the first interface operable to receive packets;

a router operable to identify those packets of the received packets corresponding to a set of one or more predetermined addresses, and to identify a set of one or more transmission paths associated with the set which meet a minimum transmission requirement and are operable to convey traffic destined for a cooperating service provider, the router operable to select a specific transmission path from the set based on a minimized link cost; and

a second interface operable to route the packets corresponding to the set of one or more predetermined addresses using the specific transmission path.

52. The apparatus of claim 51, where the router is operable to identify transmission paths meeting a requirement associated with at least one of quality of service, latency, a bandwidth, or a hop count, and to select the specific transmission path from among the transmission paths meeting the requirement associated with at least one of quality of service, latency, the bandwidth of the hop count.

53. The apparatus of claim 51, where the second interface includes at least one port to couple to a location using a dedicated line.

54. The apparatus of claim 51, where the minimum transmission requirement includes a minimum bandwidth requirement, where the router is operable to identify the minimum bandwidth requirement by identifying a load, and where the router is further operable to identify a set of one or more transmission paths meeting the minimum bandwidth requirement by identifying a set of known locations from a table, and pruning the set of known locations by eliminating from the set locations not associated with bandwidth sufficient to meet the load.

55. The apparatus of claim 51, where the minimized link cost includes a hop count.

56. The apparatus of claim 51, where the minimized link cost comprises a shortest path length.

57. The apparatus of claim 51, where the minimized link cost includes a minimal number of source-to-designation hops.

58. The apparatus of claim 51, where the router is operable to select the transmission path based on a list of participating ISX/ISP locations, pruned to eliminate locations that do not meet the minimum transmission requirement, and based on minimal hop count represented by the remaining participating ISX/ISP locations.

59. The apparatus of claim 51, where the second interface is a WAN interface.

60. The apparatus of claim 51, further comprising a processor operable to incorporate virtual private network (VPN) data into the select data to be transmitted, where the processor is operable to encrypt packets corresponding to the set, to encapsulate an encrypted version of the at least one packet and to add an IP address for a known destination firewall.

61. The apparatus of claim 51, embodied in a network of a private enterprise, where the first interface is operable to couple to a private network controlled by the private enterprise.

62. The apparatus of claim 51, where the router is operable to receive packets intended for a private tunnel connection as well as packets intended for a public network, and where the router is operable:

to compare at least one of a source address or destination address of a received packet with content of a table;

to determine whether the received packet represents prioritized traffic dependent on whether the received packet is associated with an address in the set;

if the received packet does represent prioritized traffic, to identify the minimum bandwidth requirement, to identify the set of one or more transmission paths, and to select the transmission path; and

if the received packet does not represent prioritized traffic, to select a location not represented by the content of the table.

63. In an apparatus that receives IP packets and routes the IP packets across a wide area network to one or more locations, a method comprising:

storing a list of transmission paths associated with at least one transmission requirement;

determining whether incoming traffic represents prioritized traffic that is to be routed to a transmission path associated with the list;

for incoming traffic that is to be routed to a transmission path associated with the list, selecting a corresponding transmission path based on a shortest distance criteria, and transmitting the traffic using the selected transmission path to a cooperating service provider, where transmitting includes using at least one dedicated line;

for other incoming traffic, transmitting the traffic in a manner that does not include using the dedicated line.

64. The method of claim 63, where the shortest distance criteria is based on hop count.

65. The method of claim 63, where the method further comprises encrypting and encapsulating traffic to be routed to a transmission path associated with the list.

66. The method of claim 63, where selecting a corresponding transmission path further comprises identifying a load, a set of known locations from a table, pruning the set of known locations by eliminating from the set locations not associated with bandwidth sufficient to meet the load, and selecting between remaining locations in the set to identify the corresponding transmission path.

67. The method of claim 63, where selecting the corresponding transmission path further comprises using at least one of a quality of service parameter, a latency parameter, a bandwidth parameter, or a hop count parameter to select the corresponding transmission path.