Patent ID: 11956213
Assignee: VMWARE LLC
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 11:
12. A method for transmitting data messages via secure tunnels in a network, the method comprising:
at a gateway device:
determining that a first data message received at the gateway device is to be sent via a secure interface of the gateway device;
matching the first data message to a first firewall rule that maps to a first secure tunnel used by the secure interface, wherein a plurality of different firewall rules map to a plurality of different secure tunnels used by the secure interface;
encapsulating the first data message with a header that comprises a first indicator value specifying the particular secure tunnel and forwarding the encapsulated data message to a destination interface;
determining that a second data message received at the gateway device is to be sent via the secure interface of the gateway device;
matching the second data message to a second firewall rule that maps to a second particular secure tunnel used by the secure interface; and
encapsulating the second data message with a header that comprises a second indicator value specifying the second secure tunnel and forwarding the encapsulated second data message to the destination interface.