ESTABLISHING SECURE REMOTE ACCESS TO PRIVATE COMPUTER NETWORKS

• US 20120239790A1
• Filed: 05/25/2012
• Published: 09/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Doane, Andrew J., Brandwine, Eric Jason
• Granted Patent: US 8,844,020 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5069 for group communication, multicast communication or broadcast communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

Techniques are described for providing users with access to computer networks, such as to enable users to interact with a remote configurable network service to create and configure computer networks that are provided by the configurable network service for use by the users. Secure private access between a computer network provided for a user by the configurable network service and one or more other remote computing systems of the user (e.g., a remote private network) may be enabled in various ways. For example, a user may programmatically invoke an API provided by the configurable network service to obtain assistance in establishing remote access from a remote location to a provided computer network of the configurable network service, such as to establish a VPN connection from the remote location to the provided computer network using hardware and/or software supplied to the remote location in response to the API invocation.

Claims

1-17. -17. (canceled)

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored contents that configure a computing system to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving, by a service associated with the configured computing system, a request that is programmatically made by a first client via a first programmatic interface to configure remote access from a first remote location to a first computer network provided by the service; and

responding, by the configured computing system, to the received request by initiating an acquisition of a hardware device for use at the first remote location and initiating providing of configuration information to the first remote location for use with the hardware device, wherein the initiating of the acquisition of the hardware device includes interacting with a computer system of a retailer to cause the hardware device to be provided for use at the first remote location, and wherein use of the hardware device with the provided configuration information at the first remote location initiates establishment of the remote access to the first computer network from one or more computing devices at the first remote location.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the service is a configurable network service that provides at least the first programmatic interface and that enables remote clients to programmatically configure, via the at least first programmatic interface, provided private computer networks for use by the remote clients.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 wherein the hardware device is a router device, and wherein the configuration information provided to the first remote location is software for the router device that is configured in response to the received request in a manner specific to the first computer network.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the initiating of the providing of the configuration information to the first remote location for use with the hardware device includes initiating configuring of the hardware device with the configuration information before the configured hardware device is provided to the first remote location.

33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the establishment of the remote access to the first computer network from the one or more computing devices at the first remote location includes establishing a virtual private network (VPN) connection between the one or more computing devices and the first computer network, and wherein the method further comprises participating, by the configured computing system, in the establishing of the VPN connection via one or more interactions with the hardware device at the first remote location.

22. (canceled)

23. A computing system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memories including instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, cause the computing system to;

receive a request that is programmatically made by a first client associated with a remote location to obtain one or more networking components configured to establish remote access from the remote location to a first computer network that is provided for use by first client; and

respond to the received request by causing the one or more networking components to be sent to the remote location from a retailer and by causing configuration information for configuring the one or more networking components to establish remote access from the remote location to the first computer network to be sent to the first client.

24. The computing system of claim 23 wherein the instructions are part of a configurable network service configured to provide one or more programmatic interfaces that enable the remote clients to configure private computer networks that are provided by the configurable network service for use by the remote clients, and wherein the received request is programmatically made by a computing device of the first client using one or more of the provided programmatic interfaces.

25. The computing system of claim 24 wherein the one or more networking components sent to the remote location include at least one hardware device, wherein the configuration information is software for use in configuring one or more of the at least one hardware devices to access the first computer network, and wherein the retailer is an online retailer distinct from the configurable network service.

26. The computing system of claim 23 wherein the one or more networking components sent to the remote location include software that is configured to establish a VPN (“

virtual private network”

) connection to the first computer network for the first client.

27. The computing system of claim 23 wherein the one or more networking components sent to the remote location include software that is configured to establish a secure connection to the first computer network for the first client, and wherein the instructions are part of a configurable network service manager module that responds to a later request from the first client for one or more hardware devices to establish a distinct second secure connection to the first computer network for the first client by initiating a commercial acquisition of the one or more hardware devices for the first client from the retailer.

28. The computing system of claim 27 wherein the responding to the later request from the first client for the one or more hardware devices includes establishing the second secure connection to the first computer network for the first client to replace the established secure connection to the first computer network for the first client using the configured software.

29. The computing system of claim 23 wherein, the first client has an existing networking device at the remote location of the first client, and wherein the one or more networking components provided to the remote location of the first client include software for use in configuring the existing networking device to establish the secure connection to the first computer network for the first client.

30. The computing system of claim 23 wherein the request that is programmatically made by the first client is initiated from a computing device of the first client based on one or more interactions of the first client with a graphical user interface displayed to the first client on a computing device of the first client.

31-32. -32. (canceled)

34. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing, by a configurable network service associated with one or more configured computing systems, a first programmatic interface for use by remote clients of the configurable network service to initiate configuring of remote access to computer networks provided by the configurable network service for the remote clients;

receiving, by the one or more configured computing systems, a request that is programmatically made by a computing device of a first client of the configurable network service via the first programmatic interface to configure remote access from a first remote location to a first computer network that is provided by the configurable network service for the first client; and

responding, by the one or more configured computing systems, to the received request by initiating an acquisition of a hardware device for use at the first remote location and initiating providing of configuration information to the first remote location for use with the hardware device, wherein the initiating of the acquisition of the hardware device includes interacting with a computer system of a retailer distinct from the configurable network service to cause the hardware device to be provided to the first remote location, and wherein use of the hardware device with the provided configuration information at the first remote location initiates establishment of the remote access to the first computer network from one or more computing devices of the first client at the first remote location.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the first programmatic interface is part of an API (“

application programming interface”

) of the configurable network service that enables the remote clients to configure the computer networks provided by the configurable network service for the remote clients, and wherein the request programmatically made by the computing device of the first client includes invoking the API over one or more intervening networks.

36. The method of claim 34 wherein the hardware device is a router networking device that is acquired from the retailer on behalf of the first client, and wherein the interacting with the computer system of the retailer includes supplying the retailer with an identification of the first remote location to cause the acquired router networking device to be delivered to the first remote location.

37. The method of claim 36 further comprising generating, by the one or more configured computing systems, the configuration information, the generated configuration information being for use in configuring the router networking device to establish a secure connection from the first remote location to the first computer network.

38. The method of claim 36 wherein the responding to the received request further includes configuring one or more computing systems of the configurable network service to interact with the acquired router networking device at the first remote location to provide a secure connection to the first computer network.

39. The method of claim 34 further comprising, after establishing of the remote access to the first computer network from the first remote location, providing access from the one or more computing devices at the first remote location to the first computer network.

40. The method of claim 34 wherein the initiating of the providing of the configuration information to the first remote location of the first client includes initiating storage of the configuration information on a portable storage medium and initiating delivery of the portable storage medium to the first remote location of the first client.

41. The method of claim 34 wherein the initiating of the providing of the configuration information to the first remote location of the first client includes supplying the retailer with the configuration information to cause the configuration information to be delivered to the first remote location with the hardware device.

42. The method of claim 34 wherein the responding to the received request is performed automatically by the one or more configured computing systems without any further interaction with the first client and without any actions by any human representatives of the configurable network service, and wherein the method further comprises, before the receiving of the request, receiving one or more other requests that are programmatically provided by the first client via one or more programmatic interfaces of the configurable network service to initiate creation and configuration of the first computer network, and creating and configuring the first computer network for the first client in accordance with the received one or more other requests.