Apparatus and method to facilitate high availability in secure network transport
OwnerAlexandro Salvarani, Tiberiu Grigoriuinventors
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Abstract
Embodiments described herein are effective to detect, repair and recover automatically IPSec tunnels due to failures of transport gear (L2/L3 switches) as well as the IPsec gateway components. Load balance is also an integral part of the approach. When a failure is repaired, the architecture in various embodiments will re-establish load balance and high availability automatically at L2 and L3 and preserve security during the switch-over and recovery process.
Claims12
A method to facilitate high availability in secure network transport comprising:
- sending initial uplink traffic from a network node to a first security gateway via a first IPsec tunnel;
- monitoring the first IPsec tunnel between the network node and the first security gateway;
- monitoring an alternate IPsec tunnel between the network node and a second security gateway;
- detecting a failure of the first IPsec tunnel;
- performing, in response to detecting the failure, a route update;
- routing subsequent uplink traffic to the second security gateway via the alternate IPsec tunnel;
- detecting a reestablished IPsec tunnel between the first security gateway and the network node;
- performing, in response to detecting the reestablished IPsec tunnel, a route update;
- sending additional uplink traffic to the first security gateway via the reestablished IPsec tunnel.
A method to facilitate high availability in secure network transport comprising:
- sending initial downlink traffic from a first security gateway to a network node via a first IPsec tunnel;
- detecting a failure of the first IPsec tunnel;
- performing, in response to detecting the failure, a route update;
- routing subsequent downlink traffic for the network node to a second security gateway;
- detecting a reestablished IPsec tunnel between the first security gateway and the network node;
- performing, in response to detecting the reestablished IPsec tunnel, a route update;
- sending additional downlink traffic to the network node via the reestablished IPsec tunnel.
A network node comprising:
- a network interface adapted to send and receive messaging using at least one communication protocol;
- a processing unit, communicatively coupled to the network interface,
- adapted to send, via the network interface, initial uplink traffic to a first security gateway via a first IPsec tunnel,
- adapted to monitor an alternate IPsec tunnel between the network node and a second security gateway,
- adapted to detect a failure of the first IPsec tunnel,
- adapted to perform, in response to detecting the failure, a route update,
- adapted to route subsequent uplink traffic to the second security gateway via the alternate IPsec tunnel,
- adapted to detect a reestablished IPsec tunnel between the first security gateway and the network node,
- adapted to perform, in response to detecting the reestablished IPsec tunnel, a route update, and
- adapted to send, via the network interface, additional uplink traffic to the first security gateway via the reestablished IPsec tunnel.
A security gateway comprising:
- a network interface adapted to send and receive messaging using at least one communication protocol;
- a processing unit, communicatively coupled to the network interface,
- adapted to send, via the network interface, initial downlink traffic to a network node via a first IPsec tunnel,
- adapted to detect a failure of the first IPsec tunnel,
- adapted to perform, in response to detecting the failure, a route update,
- adapted to route subsequent downlink traffic for the network node to a second security gateway,
- adapted to detect a reestablished IPsec tunnel between the security gateway and the network node,
- adapted to perform, in response to detecting the reestablished IPsec tunnel, a route update, and
- adapted to send, via the network interface, additional downlink traffic to the network node via the reestablished IPsec tunnel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.