SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MANAGING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN A COMPUTING SYSTEM AND AN AVAILABLE NETWORK USING A CONNECTION MANAGER

1 . A method of enabling an execution thread of an application running on a computing system having communication capability and a plurality of communication software modules to access a communication service that enables data communication between the computing system and a network, the method comprising:

selecting a connection profile including a sequence of references to one or more of the plurality of communication software modules for setting up a connection that uses the communication service; and

attaching the execution thread to a data channel associated with the connection profile;

wherein the selected connection profile defines steps for setting up the connection that uses the communication service.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising

associating a connection profile stored on the computing system with one or more identifiers indicating one or more communication services which the connection profile supports.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

before attaching the execution thread, determining whether a data channel associated with the selected connection profile is open and

if it is determined that a data channel associated with the selected connection profile is not open, opening a new data channel.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the application includes a plurality of execution threads, the plurality of execution threads being attachable to distinct data channels.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication service comprises a protocol for establishing communication between the computing device and a network.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detaching the thread from the data channel during execution of the thread.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

defining a DNS server for each data channel;

wherein the execution thread attached to the data channel uses the DNS server defined for the data channel.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the DNS server is associated with a virtual private network (VPN).

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

associating a communication host with a channel interface; and

routing traffic directed to the host through the associated channel interface.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing a user interface enabling a user to modify the connection profile.

11 . A computing system having processing capability for running an application having one or more execution threads and communication capability, the computing device comprising:

connection management logic including:

a database for storing a plurality of connection profiles;

server logic adapted to:

receive a request from the application for a communication service;

select a connection profile from the database that supports the requested communication service; and

attach one of the one or more execution thread of the application to a data channel associated with the connection profile; and

a user interface enabling user input for modifying the plurality of connection profiles.

12 . The computing system of claim 11 , wherein the connection management logic further includes database logic adapted to associate a connection profile stored on the computing device with one or more identifiers indicating one or more communication services which the connection profile supports.

13 . The computing system of claim 11 , wherein the server logic is further adapted to determine whether a data channel associated with the selected connection profile is open and to open a new channel if it is determined that a data channel associated with the selected connection profile is not open.

14 . The computing system of claim 11 , wherein the application run on the computing device includes a plurality of execution threads, and the server logic is adapted to attach the plurality of execution threads to distinct data channels.

15 . The computing system of claim 11 , wherein the requested communication service comprises a protocol for establishing communication between the computing device and a network.

16 . The computing system of claim 11 , wherein the server logic is further adapted to detach the one or more execution threads the data channels to which they are attached during execution.

17 . The computing system of claim 11 , wherein the server logic is further adapted to define a DNS server for each data channel.

18 . The computing system of claim 17 , wherein the DNS server is associated with a virtual private network (VPN).

19 . The computing system of claim 11 , wherein one or more communication hosts are associated with a channel interface in the database.

20 . The computing system of claim 19 , wherein the server logic is adapted to route traffic directed to a communication host through the channel interface associated with the host.