Selective diversion and injection of communication traffic
AssigneeRiverhead Networks Inc.
InventorsAnat Barr, Hank Nussbacher, Roi Hermoni, Dan Touitou
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for communication includes coupling a first port of a Layer-3 packet router to receive communication traffic from a network, the traffic including packets destined for a target address, which is accessible via a second port of the router. At the router, the packets that are destined for the target address are diverted to a traffic processor via a third port of the router. The diverted packets are processed at the traffic processor, and returning the processed packets to the router via the third port. At the router, the processed packets are conveyed from the third port to the second port for delivery to the target address.
Claims71
A method for communication, comprising:
- coupling a first port of a Layer-3 packet router to receive communication traffic from a network, the traffic comprising packets destined for a target address, which is accessible via a second port of the router;
- at the router, diverting the packets that are destined for the target address to a traffic processor via a third port of the router;
- processing the diverted packets at the traffic processor, and returning the processed packets to the router via the third port;
- and
- at the router, conveying the processed packets from the third port to the second port for delivery to the target address.
A method for communication, comprising:
- coupling one or more peering routers in an area of a network to receive communication traffic from outside the area, the traffic comprising packets destined for a target address;
- forwarding the packets to the target address over one or more first routes via one or more internal routers within the area of the network;
- establishing one or more tunnels through the network from the peering routers via one or more first ports of a diverting router within the area of the network to a second port of the diverting router;
- coupling a traffic processor to the second port of the diverting router;
- in response to a characteristic of the traffic, instructing the one or more peering routers to forward the packets that are destined for the target address through the one or more tunnels instead of over the first routes;
- at the traffic processor, processing the packets that were forwarded through the tunnels via the diverting router;
- and
- conveying at least some of the processed packets from the traffic processor to the target address.
A method for communication, comprising:
- coupling a first port of a Layer-3 packet router to receive communication traffic from a network, the traffic comprising packets destined for a target address;
- coupling a second port of the Layer-3 packet router to a subnet, through which the target address is accessible;
- diverting the packets that are destined for the target address to a traffic processor on the subnet via a Layer-2 switch in the subnet;
- processing the diverted packets at the traffic processor, and returning the processed packets to the Layer-2 switch;
- and
- conveying the processed packets from the Layer-2 switch to the target address.
Apparatus for communication, comprising:
- a Layer-3 packet router, comprising at least first, second and third ports, wherein the first port is coupled to receive communication traffic from a network, the traffic comprising packets destined for a target address, which is accessible via a second port of the router;
- and
- a traffic processor, which is coupled to the third port of the router, and is adapted to cause the router to divert the packets that are destined for the target address to the third port, and is further adapted to process the diverted packets and to return the processed packets to the router via the third port so as to cause the router to convey the processed packets from the third port to the second port for delivery to the target address.
Apparatus for communication, comprising:
- one or more peering routers in an area of a network, which are coupled to receive communication traffic from outside the area, the traffic comprising packets destined for a target address;
- one or more internal routers within the area of the network, which are coupled to receive the packets from the one or more peering routers, and to forward the packets to the target address over one or more first routes;
- a diverting router within the area of the network, the diverting router comprising one or more first ports and a second port, wherein the first ports are coupled to the peering routers by one or more tunnels through the network, and the diverting router is configured to pass the packets that it receives through the one or more tunnels to the second port;
- a traffic processor, which is coupled to the second port of the diverting router, and which is adapted, in response to a characteristic of the traffic, to instruct the one or more peering routers to forward the packets that are destined for the target address through the one or more tunnels instead of over the first routes, and to process the packets that were forwarded through the tunnels via the diverting router, and to convey at least some of the processed packets to the target address.
Apparatus for communication, comprising:
- a Layer-2 switch, located in a subnet through which a target address is accessible;
- a Layer-3 packet router, comprising first and second ports, wherein the first port is coupled to receive communication traffic from a network, the traffic comprising packets destined for the target address, and the second port is coupled to the Layer-2 switch;
- and
- a traffic processor, which is adapted to cause the Layer-3 packet router to divert the packets that are destined for the target address via the Layer-2 switch to the traffic processor, and which is further adapted to process the diverted packets and to return the processed packets to the Layer-2 switch so as to cause the Layer-2 switch to convey the processed packets to the target address.
A computer software product, for use by a computer in conjunction with a Layer-3 packet router that includes at least first, second and third ports, wherein the first port is coupled to receive communication traffic from a network, the traffic including packets destined for a target address, which is accessible via a second port of the router, and the computer is coupled to the third port, the product comprising:
- a computer-readable medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by the computer, cause the computer to instruct the router to divert the packets that are destined for the target address to the third port, and further cause the computer to process the diverted packets and to return the processed packets to the router via the third port so as to cause the router to convey the processed packets from the third port to the second port for delivery to the target address.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.