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Methods and apparatus for remapping public network addresses on a network to an external network via a private communications channel

  • US 9,628,294 B1
  • Filed: 03/23/2011
  • Issued: 04/18/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2011
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A provider network, comprising:

  • one or more server devices configured to;

    assign subsets of a plurality of public Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to particular customers of the provider network as customer IP addresses, wherein the customer IP addresses are published external to the provider network and external to a customer network of the particular customers as addresses associated with one or more network devices on the provider network; and

    maintain mapping information that indicates mappings of the customer IP addresses to particular endpoints, wherein the mappings are specified by the particular customers of the provider network, and wherein at least one customer IP address is currently mapped to an endpoint on the provider network and at least one other customer IP address is currently mapped to an endpoint external to the provider network;

    the one or more network devices on the provider network configured to;

    receive packets from client devices external to the provider network and external to the customer network, the packets indicating respective ones of the customer IP addresses as respective destination addresses and IP addresses of respective ones of the client devices as respective source addresses;

    for at least some of the packets, determine, from the mapping information, whether a given customer IP address indicated by a given destination address of a given packet is currently mapped to a given endpoint on the provider network or is currently mapped to a given endpoint on the customer network external to the provider network;

    based on the determination;

    for a packet for which the customer IP address is currently mapped to a particular endpoint on the provider network, send the packet to the particular endpoint via the provider network; and

    for another packet for which the customer IP address is currently mapped to a particular endpoint on the customer network external to the provider network;

    translate the destination address of the other packet to determine a network address of the particular endpoint on the customer network;

    encapsulate the other packet according to a private communications channel protocol to generate an encapsulated packet, wherein the encapsulated packet indicates the network address of the particular endpoint on the customer network as a destination address; and

    send the encapsulated packet to the customer network via a private communications channel over a public network.

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