MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL ADDRESS TRANSLATION IN VIRTUALIZED ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20110145912A1
• Filed: 12/10/2010
• Published: 06/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Litvin, Moshe
• Granted Patent: US 8,640,221 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/13
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/72 Routing based on the source address
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2596 Translation of addresses of the same type other than IP, e.g. translation from MAC to MAC addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1441 Countermeasures against malicious traffic countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method that transmits network packets through a network security device. The method receives receiving a request to send a network packet from a first computing device to a second computing device over a network that includes the network security device. The network packet includes a first network interface identifier for identifying the first computing device on the network and a second network interface identifier for identifying the second computing device on the network. The method identifies third and fourth network interface identifiers that cause the network packet to be transmitted through the network security device when the network packet is transmitted using the third and fourth network interface identifiers. The method transmits the network packet over the network through the network security device using the third and fourth network interface identifiers. The method transmits the network packet to the second computing device using the first and second network interface identifiers.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting network packets through a network security device, the method comprising:

receiving a request to send a network packet from a first computing device to a second computing device over a network comprising the network security device, wherein the network packet comprises a first network interface identifier for identifying the first computing device on the network and a second network interface identifier for identifying the second computing device on the network;

identifying third and fourth network interface identifiers that, when the network packet is transmitted using the third and fourth network interface identifiers, cause the network packet to be transmitted through the network security device;

transmitting the network packet over the network through the network security device using the third and fourth network interface identifiers; and

transmitting the network packet to the second computing device using the first and second network interface identifiers.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, before transmitting the network packet to the second computing device, receiving the network packet from the network security device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the network security device is an intrusion prevention system (IPS) device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network interface identifier is a first media access control (MAC) address and the second network interface identifier is a second MAC address different from the first MAC address.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the third network interface identifier is a third MAC address different from the first and second MAC addresses and the fourth network interface identifier is a fourth MAC address different from the first, second, and third MAC addresses.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the network further comprises first and second network switches, wherein transmitting the network packet through the network security device comprises transmitting the network packet through the first and second network switches.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein transmitting the network packet through the network security device comprises:

transmitting the network packet through the first network switch before transmitting the network packet through the network security device; and

transmitting the network packet through the second network switch after transmitting the network packet through the network security device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the third and fourth network interface identifiers comprises:

replacing the first network interface identifier in the network packet with the third network interface identifier; and

replacing the second network interface identifier in the network packet with the fourth network interface identifier.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising, before transmitting the network packet to the second computing device:

replacing the third network interface identifier in the network packet with the first network interface identifier; and

replacing the fourth network interface identifier in the network packet with the second network interface identifier.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the network packet bypasses the network security device when the network security device is transmitted to the second computing device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second computing devices are virtual computing devices.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second computing devices are physical computers.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving, identifying, and transmitting are performed by a firewall.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the firewall is a virtual firewall running on a virtual server that hosts at least one of the first and second computing devices.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the network comprises a physical network switch that includes the firewall.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is received from the first computing device.

17. A method for transmitting network packets through a network security device, the method comprising:

receiving a first request to send a network packet from a first computing device to a second computing device over a network comprising the network security device, the network packet comprising a first network interface identifier for identifying the first computing device on the network and a second interface identifier for identifying the second computing device on the network;

sending a second request for third and fourth network interface identifiers, wherein the network packet is transmitted through the network security device when the network packet is transmitted using the third and fourth network interface identifiers;

modifying the network packet to use the third and fourth network interface identifiers when the network packet is transmitted through the network; and

transmitting the modified network packet through the network through the network security device to the second computing device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the request is sent to a network interface identifier manager that manages a plurality of different network interface identifiers for a plurality of different computing devices.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the first request is received from the first computing device.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the network security device is an intrusion prevention system (IPS) device.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the first network interface identifier is a first media access control (MAC) address and the second network interface identifier is a second MAC address different from the first MAC address.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the third network interface identifier is a third MAC address different from the first and second MAC addresses and the fourth network interface identifier is a fourth MAC address different from the first, second, and third MAC addresses.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the network further comprises first and second network switches, wherein transmitting the network packet through the network security device comprises:

transmitting the network packet through the first network switch before transmitting the network packet through the network security device; and

transmitting the network packet through the second network switch after transmitting the network packet through the network security device.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein modifying the network packet comprises:

replacing the first network interface identifier in the network packet with the third network interface identifier; and

replacing the second network interface identifier in the network packet with the fourth network interface identifier.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein the first and second computing devices are virtual computing devices.

26. The method of claim 17, wherein the first and second computing devices are physical computers.

27. The method of claim 17, wherein the receiving, sending, modifying, and transmitting are performed by a firewall.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the firewall is a virtual firewall on a virtual server that hosts at least one of the first and second computing devices.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the network comprises a physical network switch that includes the firewall.

30. A method for communicating network packets through a network security device that is part of a network comprising first and second firewalls, first and second switching devices, and a plurality of computing devices, each switching device coupled to the first and second firewalls and the network security device, the method comprising:

at the first firewall, receiving a request to send a network packet from a first computing device coupled to the first firewall to a second computing device coupled to the second firewall, wherein the network packet comprises a first network interface identifier for identifying the first computer on the network and a second network interface identifier for identifying the second computer on the network;

at the first firewall, performing a first modification to the network packet by replacing the first network interface identifier with a third network interface identifier and replacing the second network interface identifier with a fourth network interface identifier, wherein the third and fourth network interface identifiers are associated with the first firewall;

from the first firewall, transmitting the first modified network packet to the first switching device, wherein the first switching device forwards the first modified network packet through the network security device to the second switching device, wherein the second switching device forwards the first modified network packet to the first firewall;

at the first firewall, performing a second modification to the first modified network packet by replacing the third network interface identifier with the first network interface identifier and replacing the fourth network interface identifier with the second network interface identifier; and

from the first firewall, transmitting the second modified network packet to the second computing device through the first switching device.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the first switching device further forwards the first modified network packet to the second firewall when the first switching device receives the first modified network packet.

32. The method of claim 31 further comprising, at the second firewall, dropping the first modified network packet when the second firewall receives the first modified network packet from the first switching device.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the second switching device further forwards the first modified network packet to the second firewall when the first switching device receives the first modified network packet.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising, at the second firewall, dropping the first modified network packet when the second firewall receives the first modified network packet transmitted from the second switching device.

35. The method of claim 30, wherein the network packet is a first network packet, wherein the request is a first request, the method further comprising:

at the second firewall, receiving a second request to send a second network packet from the second computing device to the first computing device in response to the first network packet, wherein the second network packet comprises the first network interface identifier and the second network interface identifier;

at the second firewall, performing a first modification to the second network packet by replacing the first network interface identifier with a fifth network interface identifier and replacing the second network interface identifier with a sixth network interface identifier, wherein the fifth and sixth network interface identifiers are associated with the second firewall;

from the second firewall, transmitting the first modified second network packet to the second switching device, wherein the first switching device forwards the first modified second network packet only through the network security device to the first switching device, wherein the first switching device forwards the first modified second network packet only to the first firewall;

at the second firewall, performing a second modification to the first modified second network packet by replacing the fifth network interface identifier with the first network interface identifier and replacing the sixth network interface identifier with the second network interface identifier; and

from the second firewall, transmitting the second modified first network packet to the first computing device through the second switching device.