Granted Patent B1

US 8,185,642 · App. 11/281,905 · Granted May 22, 2012

Abstract

Claims (45)

1. A system comprising:

a network device to allow authorized communication between a destination device and a source device, the network device to:

receive a first packet sent from the source device to the destination device;

determine that the first packet does not include authorization information;

provide a message to a policy server that establishes a network policy, the message informing the policy server that authorization information should be included in subsequent packets from the source device to the destination device;

receive, from the policy server, a copy of authorization information associated with the source device;

receive, from the source device, a second packet intended for the destination device;

determine that the second packet includes authorization information;

compare the authorization information included in the second packet with the copy of authorization information received from the policy server; and

forward at least a portion of the second packet to the destination device when the authorization information, included in the second packet, matches the copy of authorization information received from the policy server.

2. The system of claim 1 , where the network device is further to:

receive additional authorization information from the policy server, where the additional authorization information is used to establish a communication channel between the source device and the network device, where the communication channel transports encapsulated packets.

3. The system of claim 2 , where the network device extracts a packet from one of the encapsulated packets and makes the extracted packet available to the destination device.

4. The system of claim 1 , where the network device makes at least a portion of the authorization information, included in the second packet, available to the policy server to determine if the authorization information is legitimate.

5. The system of claim 1 , where the authorization information, included in the second packet, comprises a token.

6. The system of claim 5 , where the token comprises information associated with at least one of an identity of the source device, an identity of a user associated with the source device, a health of the source device, a set of access rules for the source device, or a protocol to use for the authorized communication.

7. The system of claim 6 , where the health of the source device comprises information about a version of software operating on the source device.

8. The system of claim 5 , where the token includes a reference to information that authorizes the source device.

9. The system of claim 1 , where the authorization information comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) packet that can be operated on by the destination device or another device on the network.

10. A method, performed by a network device, for establishing authorized communication between a source device and a destination device, the method comprising:

receiving a first packet from the source device, the first packet being intended for the destination device;

determining that the first packet does not include authorization information;

providing, to a policy server, a message in response to determining that the first packet does not include authorization information, the message informing the policy server that authorization information should be included in subsequent communication from the source device;

intercepting a second packet from the source device, the second packet being intended for the destination device;

determining that the second packet includes authorization information;

receiving a copy of authorization information from the policy server;

processing the authorization information, in response to determining that the second packet includes authorization information, to determine whether the authorization information, included in the received second packet, matches the received copy of the authorization information; and

forwarding the second packet to the destination device when the authorization information included in the received second packet matches the received copy of the authorization information.

11. The method of claim 10 , where processing the authorization information comprises:

comparing a first token, included in the authorization information included in the second packet, with a second token included in the received copy of authorization information.

12. The method of claim 10 , where the forwarding comprises:

providing the second packet to the destination device without the authorization information.

13. The method of claim 10 , where the processing further comprises:

using the authorization information to establish an Internet Protocol secure (IPsec) tunnel with the source device.

14. A network device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory to store one or more instructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive a first packet from a source device, the first packet being intended for a destination device;

determine that the first packet does not include authorization information;

receive a copy of authorization information from a policy server, where the copy of authorization information is used to determine if communication between the source device and the destination device can be authorized;

send, to the policy server, a request that subsequent packets from the source device, intended for the destination device, contain authorization information;

receive, from the source device, subsequent packets;

determine that the subsequent packets include authorization information;

compare the authorization information included in the subsequent packets with the received copy of the authorization information; and

allow at least a portion of the subsequent packets to reach the destination device when the authorization information, included in the subsequent packets, matches the copy of the authorization information received from the policy server.

Assignments (16)