Granted Patent B2

US 8,457,132 · App. 12/564,502 · Granted Jun 4, 2013

Abstract

Claims (22)

1. A method of relaying traffic from a source to a targeted destination in a communications network, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a first and at least one second network adapter each providing access to a network having a plurality of destinations;

providing a first routing table which defines a first default destination individually associated with the first network adapter, such that the first network adapter is listed as an interface for the first default destination;

providing at least one second routing table defining a second default destination, wherein the second default destination is individually associated with the at least one second network adapter, such that the at least one second network adapter is listed as an interface for the second default destination; and

relaying said traffic from the source to the targeted destination using one of the network adapters, wherein the step of relaying further comprises selecting one of the first or second routing tables, such that by selecting the first routing table, the first network adapter is accessed as a default destination route, and by selecting the second routing table, the second network adapter is accessed as a default destination route.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the first and second routing tables comprise specific destinations pointing to another routing table, preferably by means of a next hop entry.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein each of the first and second routing tables comprise specific destinations that only point to another routing table.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of providing network adapters includes providing real network adapters and providing at least one virtual network adapter, wherein each virtual network adapter is individually associated with a third routing table.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the third routing table includes next hop and interface entries pointing to at least one of the following: another routing table or a real network adapter, and wherein the step of relaying uses the at least one virtual network adapter and its associated third routing table.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of selecting a routing table is triggered by the source.

7. A network adapter for providing access to a network from a source, said network adapter comprising an individually associated routing table where the network adapter is an interface for a default destination route for the source to access the network adapter as the default destination route,

wherein a routing table defines a default destination individually associated with the network adapter, and

wherein, when relaying traffic from the source, the routing table is selected such that the network adapter is accessed as the default destination route.

8. The network adapter of claim 7 , said network adapter being a virtual adapter, said individually associated routing table comprising next hop and interface entries pointing to at least one of the following: another routing table or a real network adapter.

9. A client terminal comprising a plurality of network adapters for providing access to a network and a plurality of routing tables, wherein each individual network adapter is individually associated with one of the plurality of routing tables, such that each individual network adapter is an interface for a default destination of its associated routing table, and wherein a first routing table and a second routing tables define a first destination and a second destination as a first default destination and a second default destination, respectively, which are used for traffic relay, and wherein, when traffic is relayed from a source to a target destination, at least one from among the first routing table and the second routing table is selected, such that a first network adapter is accessed as a first default destination route if the first routing table is selected and a second network adapter is accessed as a second default destination route if the second routing table is selected.

10. A router for relaying traffic from a source to a targeted destination in a communications network, comprising a plurality of network adapters for providing access to the communications network and a plurality of routing tables, wherein each individual network adapter is individually associated with one of the plurality of routing tables, such that each individual network adapter is an interface for a default destination of its associated routing table, and wherein a first routing table and a second routing table define a first destination and a second destination as a first default destination and a second default destination, respectively, which are used for traffic relay, and wherein, when traffic is relayed from the source to the targeted destination, at least one from among the first routing table and the second routing table is selected, such that a first network adapter is accessed as a first default destination route if the first routing table is selected and a second network adapter is accessed as a second default destination route if the second routing table is selected.

11. A system for relaying traffic from a source to a target destination in a communications network, comprising an operating system component configured to connect a source application running on a machine to a communications network, wherein the operating system component comprises a plurality of routing tables, each configured to be individually associated with one of a plurality of network adapters of said machine, wherein each of the plurality of routing tables defines a destination as a default destination, which is used for traffic relay, such that each individual network adapter is an interface for the default destination of its associated routing table, and wherein at least one from among the plurality of routing tables is selected such that the network adapter individually associated thereto is accessed as the default destination route.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the operating system component further comprises a plurality of virtual network adapters, each virtual network adapter being associated with one from a plurality of third routing tables and each associated third routing table comprising next hop and interface entries pointing to at least one of the following: another routing table or a real network adapter.

13. The system of claim 11 , further embodied as a computer program product on a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising:

computer code for connecting the source application to the communications network; and

computer code for configuring the plurality of routing tables to be individually associated with the network adapter of said machine.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer code for implementing and configuring a plurality of routing tables each to be individually associated with one of a plurality of network adapters accessible from a machine, such that each individual network adapter is listed as an interface for a default destination of its associated routing table, wherein the computer code is operable for relaying traffic from a source to a target destination in a communications network, and wherein each of the plurality of routing tables defines a destination as the default destination, which is used for traffic relay, and wherein, when relaying traffic from a source, the routing table is selected such that the network adapter is accessed as the default destination route.

Assignments (14)