Methods and apparatuses for automating return traffic redirection to a service appliance by injecting traffic interception/redirection rules into network nodes
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for automating return traffic redirection, the method comprising:
- at a service appliance, establishing a communication channel between the service appliance and a packet-forwarding element;
at the service appliance, transmitting an out-of-band message over the communication channel to the packet-forwarding element, the message comprising a forwarding policy that requests the packet-forwarding element to forward predetermined packets to the service appliance,at the service appliance, receiving a packet having a source address of a client device and a destination address of the service appliance;
at the service appliance, performing a load balancing algorithm to select a server among one or more servers;
at the service appliance, changing the destination address of the packet to an address of the selected server;
at the service appliance, forwarding the packet having the source address of the client device and the destination address of the selected server;
at the service appliance, receiving a message from the packet-forwarding element indicating a change in network configuration;
at the service appliance, generating an updated forwarding policy that reflects the change in network configuration; and
at the service appliance, transmitting an updated out-of-band message over the communication channel to the packet-forwarding element, the message comprising the updated forwarding policy.
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Abstract
Methods and apparatuses for automating return traffic redirection to a service appliance by injecting forwarding policies in a packet-forwarding element are disclosed herein. An example method for automating return traffic redirection can include: establishing a communication channel between a service appliance and a packet-forwarding element; and transmitting an out-of-band message over the communication channel to the packet-forwarding element. The message can include a forwarding policy that requests the packet-forwarding element to forward predetermined packets to the service appliance.
29 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method for automating return traffic redirection, the method comprising:
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at a service appliance, establishing a communication channel between the service appliance and a packet-forwarding element; at the service appliance, transmitting an out-of-band message over the communication channel to the packet-forwarding element, the message comprising a forwarding policy that requests the packet-forwarding element to forward predetermined packets to the service appliance, at the service appliance, receiving a packet having a source address of a client device and a destination address of the service appliance; at the service appliance, performing a load balancing algorithm to select a server among one or more servers; at the service appliance, changing the destination address of the packet to an address of the selected server; at the service appliance, forwarding the packet having the source address of the client device and the destination address of the selected server; at the service appliance, receiving a message from the packet-forwarding element indicating a change in network configuration; at the service appliance, generating an updated forwarding policy that reflects the change in network configuration; and at the service appliance, transmitting an updated out-of-band message over the communication channel to the packet-forwarding element, the message comprising the updated forwarding policy. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for automating return traffic redirection, the method comprising:
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at a packet-forwarding element, establishing a communication channel between a service appliance and the packet-forwarding element; at the packet-forwarding element, receiving an out-of-band message over the communication channel from the service appliance, the message comprising a forwarding policy that requests the packet-forwarding element to forward predetermined packets to the service appliance, at the packet-forwarding element, receiving a return packet having a source address of a server and a destination address of a client device; at the packet-forwarding element, determining whether to forward the return packet to the service appliance based on the forwarding policy; and at the packet-forwarding element, transmitting or not transmitting the return packet to the service appliance based on the determination. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for automating return traffic redirection, the method comprising:
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at a packet-forwarding element, establishing a communication channel between a service appliance and the packet-forwarding element; at the packet-forwarding element, receiving an out-of-band message over the communication channel from the service appliance, the message comprising a forwarding policy that requests the packet-forwarding element to forward predetermined packets to the service appliance, at the packet-forwarding element, transmitting a message to the service appliance indicating a change in network configuration; and at the packet-forwarding element, receiving an updated out-of-band message over the communication channel from the service appliance, the message comprising an updated forwarding policy that reflects the change in network configuration.
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13. A method for automating return traffic redirection, the method comprising:
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at a packet-forwarding element, establishing a communication channel between a service appliance and the packet-forwarding element; at the packet-forwarding element, receiving an out-of-band message over the communication channel from the service appliance, the message comprising a forwarding policy that requests the packet-forwarding element to forward predetermined packets to the service appliance; and at the packet-forwarding element, transmitting the out-of-band message to one or more adjacent packet-forwarding elements.
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14. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for automating return traffic redirection having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a service appliance, cause the service appliance to:
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establish a communication channel between the service appliance and a packet-forwarding element; and transmit an out-of-band message over the communication channel to the packet-forwarding element, the message comprising a forwarding policy that requests the packet-forwarding element to forward predetermined packets to the service appliance, and having further computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the packet-forwarding element, cause the packet-forwarding element to; receive the out-of-band message over the communication channel from the service appliance; receive a return packet having a source address of a server and a destination address of a client device; determine whether to forward the return packet to the service appliance based on the forwarding policy; and transmit or not transmit the return packet to the service appliance based on the determination. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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Specification