Handling connections moving between firewalls

A method of maintaining information in a firewall, comprising

• maintaining (400) a first mobile entity table comprising identifiers of mobile entities which are active in the firewall,
• sending (502) the first mobile entity table to a predefined set of other firewalls as a response to a predefined action,
• receiving (600) from at least one other firewall a mobile entity table comprising identifiers of mobile entities which are active in the at least one other firewall, and
• maintaining (402) a second mobile entity table comprising identifiers of mobile entities which are active in the at least one other firewall and an identifier of the corresponding at least one other firewall on the basis of the mobile entity table received from said at least one other firewall.

A firewall comprising

• memory and mechanism for maintaining a first mobile entity table comprising identifiers of mobile entities which are active in the firewall,
• memory and mechanism maintaining a second mobile entity table comprising identifiers of mobile entities which are active in a predefined set of other firewalls and identifiers of corresponding other firewalls,
• mechanism for detecting a new mobile entity, which is not currently active in the firewall,
• mechanism for finding on the basis of the second mobile entity table, if the new mobile entity is currently active in another firewall, and
• mechanism for querying, from the another firewall, state information related to the new mobile entity, and mechanism and memory for storing the state information in the firewall to be used for processing data packets from/to the new mobile entity, if the mobile entity is currently active in another firewall.

A firewall comprising

• memory and mechanism for maintaining a first mobile entity table comprising identifiers of mobile entities which are active in the firewall,
• mechanism for sending the first mobile entity table to a predefined set of other firewalls as a response to a predefined action,
• mechanism for receiving from at least one other firewall a mobile entity table comprising identifiers of mobile entities which are active in the at least one other firewall, and
• memory and mechanism for maintaining a second mobile entity table comprising identifiers of mobile entities which are active in the at least one other firewall and an identifier of the corresponding at least one other firewall on the basis of the mobile entity table received from the at least one other firewall.

A computer-readable medium, containing a computer software which, when executed in a computer device, causes the computer device to provide a firewall routine comprising

• maintaining a first mobile entity table comprising identifiers of mobile entities which are active in the firewall,
• maintaining a second mobile entity table comprising identifiers of mobile entities which are active in a predefined set of other firewalls and identifiers of corresponding other firewalls,
• detecting a new mobile entity, which is not currently active in the firewall,
• finding on the basis of the second mobile entity table, if the new mobile entity is currently active in another firewall, and
• if the mobile entity is currently active in another firewall, querying, from the another firewall, state information related to the new mobile entity, and storing the state information in the firewall to be used for processing data packets from/to the new mobile entity.

A computer-readable medium, containing a computer software which, when executed in a computer device, causes the computer device to provide a firewall routine comprising

• maintaining a first mobile entity table comprising identifiers of mobile entities which are active in the firewall,
• sending the first mobile entity table to a predefined set of other firewalls as a response to a predefined action,
• receiving from at least one other firewall a mobile entity table comprising identifiers of mobile entities which are active in the at least one other firewall, and
• maintaining a second mobile entity table comprising identifiers of mobile entities which are active in the at least one other firewall and an identifier of the corresponding at least one other firewall on the basis of the mobile entity table received from the at least one other firewall.