Method and system for establishing bidirectional tunnel

• US 8,130,671 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2005
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Park, Soo-hong, Lee, Min-ho
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Chirag
• Assistant Examiner(s): MITCHELL, DANIEL D
• Application Number:
  US11/259,275
• Publication Number:
  US 20060092964A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,322 Days
• Field of Search: 370/409
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/251 between different IP versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2542 involving dual-stack hosts
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/167 Adaptation for transition between two IP versions, e.g. between IPv4 and IPv6 translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses H04L61/2503
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method and system establish a bi-directional tunnel through direct communication between a tunnel end point (TEP) and a user node without user assistance. The method includes: operating the user node in order to establish the bi-directional tunnel, wherein operating the user node includes: requesting network information necessary for establishing the bi-directional tunnel to the DHCP server; when the user node receives the network information from the DHCP server, establishing a unidirectional tunnel from the user node to the TEP based on the received network information; requesting one of the TEPs to establish the unidirectional tunnel; and when the user node receives a router advertisement (RA) message of a second network with which the user node wishes to communicate from the TEP required to establish the unidirectional tunnel, establishing an address of the user node in the second network.

Claims

1. A method of establishing a bi-directional tunnel between a user node and a tunnel end point (TEP) in a first network including the user node, a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, and one or more TEPs, the method comprising:

operating the user node to establish the bi-directional tunnel,

wherein operating the user node comprises;

requesting network information necessary to establish the bi-directional tunnel to the DHCP server;

requesting from the user node to the TEP to establish a unidirectional tunnel from the user node to the TEP, and establishing the unidirectional tunnel from the user node to the TEP based on the received network information when the user node receives the network information from the DHCP server;

establishing an address of the user node in a second network when the user node receives a router advertisement (RA) message of the second network with which the user node wishes to communicate from the TEP required to establish the unidirectional tunnel;

sending a tunnel configuration request message to the TEP; and

establishing a second unidirectional tunnel from the TEP to the user node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the network information comprises an address on the first network of the one or more TEPs.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the network information further comprises the address of the user node in the first network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein operating the user node further comprises:

informing a user of failure to establish the bi-directional tunnel when the user node receives a tunnel configuration failure message from the TEP.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein operating the user node further comprises:

requesting another TEP to establish the unidirectional tunnel using the address on the first network of another TEP received from the DHCP server when the user node receives the tunnel configuration failure message from the TEP.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user node generates the address of the second network based on a prefix of the RA message of the second network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network is an IPv4 network, and the second network is an IPv6 network.

8. A method of establishing a bi-directional tunnel between a user node and a tunnel end point (TEP) in a first network including the user node, a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, and one or more TEPs, the method comprising:

operating the TEP to establish the bi-directional tunnel,

wherein operating the TEP comprises;

establishing a unidirectional tunnel from the TEP to the user node based on network information included in the tunnel configuration request message when the TEP receives a tunnel configuration request message from the user node; and

sending a router advertisement (RA) message of a second network with which the user node wishes to communicate to the user node when the TEP establishes the unidirectional tunnel.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprises:

sending a message informing of the configuration failure of the unidirectional tunnel to the user node when the TEP fails to establish the unidirectional tunnel.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the message informing of the failure to establish the unidirectional tunnel is configured using code information regarding a plurality of predetermined failure reasons.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the first network is an IPv4 network, and the second network is an IPv6 network.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the tunnel configuration request message is sent by using any one of TCP (Transport Control Protocol), UDP (User Datagram Protocol), and ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol).

13. A method of establishing a bi-directional tunnel between a user node and a tunnel end point (TEP) in a first network including the user node, a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, and one or more TEPs, the method comprising:

the user node requesting network information necessary to establish the bi-directional tunnel from the DHCP server;

communicating with the TEP and establishing the bidirectional tunnel between the user node and the TEP based on the received network information when the user node receives the network information from the DHCP server; and

establishing an address of the user node in a second network based on the RA message when the user node receives an router advertisement (RA) message of the second network with which the user node wishes to communicate from the TEP,

wherein establishing the bi-directional tunnel comprises;

the user node establishing a first unidirectional tunnel from the user node to the TEP, and

the TEP establishing a second unidirectional tunnel from the TEP to the user node.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein establishing the bi-directional tunnel further comprises:

the user node sending a tunnel configuration request message to the TEP; and

the TEP establishes the second unidirectional tunnel when the TEP receives the tunnel configuration request message.

15. A system establishing a bi-directional tunnel between a user node and a tunnel end point (TEP) in a first network including the user node, a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP)-server, and one or more TEPs;

wherein the user node comprises;

a tunnel configuration agent to receive network information necessary to establish the bi-directional tunnel from the DHCP server to establish a unidirectional tunnel from the user node to the TEP based on the received network information, and to communicate to establish the bi-directional tunnel with the TEP;

an address configuration unit to establish an address of a second network of the user node based on a router advertisement (RA) message when the RA message of the second network with which the user node wishes to communicate is provided from the TEP and

a dual stack to manage an address of the first network and the address of the second network of the user node,

wherein the tunnel configuration agent comprises;

a controller to establish the bi-directional tunnel;

a message creator and transmitter, which is controlled by the controller, and which creates a first message to be provided to the TEP to establish the bi-directional tunnel, and provides the controller with a second message provided from the TEP; and

a client to transmit the first message provided from the message creator and transmitter to the TEP, to receive the second message provided from the TEP, and to provide the message creator and transmitter with the second message.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the tunnel configuration agent further comprises:

a receiver to receive the network information;

a tunnel information handler, which is controlled by the controller, and which manages tunnel information to establish the unidirectional tunnel in the network information; and

a tunnel configuration unit to establish the unidirectional tunnel based on the tunnel information provided from the tunnel information handler.

17. A system for establishing a bi-directional tunnel between a user node and a tunnel end point (TEP) in a first network including the user node, a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, and one or more TEPs,

wherein the TEP comprises:

a port to exchange messages with the user node to establish the bi-directional tunnel;

a parser to parse messages received through the port;

a controller to establish the unidirectional tunnel from the TEP to the user node based on the message parsed by the parser;

a tunnel information handler controlled by the controller and to manage network information necessary to establish the unidirectional tunnel; and

a tunnel configuration unit to establish the unidirectional tunnel based on tunnel information provided from the tunnel information handler.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the TEP further comprises:

a communication processing unit to send a router advertisement (RA) message of a second network to the user node to communicate when the unidirectional tunnel is established.

19. A system for establishing a bi-directional tunnel between a user node and a tunnel end point (TEP) in a first network including the user node, a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, and one or more TEPs,

wherein the user node comprises:

a first tunnel configuration agent to establish a first unidirectional tunnel from the user node to the TEP based on network information received from the DHCP server, and to communicate with the TEP to establish the bi-directional tunnel,

wherein the TEP comprises;

a second tunnel configuration agent to establish a second unidirectional tunnel from the TEP to the user node based on a message received by communicating with the first tunnel configuration agent.