Patent ID: 7844731
Filing Date: 2010-11-30
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for addressing packets in a firewall cluster within a single network, the firewall cluster including a plurality of firewall nodes comprising one or more processing units, the method comprising: selecting, from the firewall cluster within the single network, a first firewall node for processing a first packet, the first firewall node being assigned to a first node number; receiving, at a first processing unit associated with the first firewall node, the first packet; modifying, by the first processing unit, a first address of the first packet into a first modified address such that a quadrant identifier determined using a hash function and modulo division from the first modified address corresponds to the first node number assigned only to the first firewall node; selecting, from the firewall cluster within the single network, a second firewall node for processing a second packet, the second firewall node being assigned to a second node number; receiving, at a second processing unit associated with the second firewall node, the second packet, the second processing unit being different than the first processing unit; modifying, by the second processing unit, a second address of the second packet into a second modified address such that a quadrant identifier determined using a hash function and modulo division from the second modified address corresponds to the second node number assigned only to the second firewall node, wherein the second modified address of the second packet does not conflict with the first modified address of the first packet; forwarding the first packet based on the first modified address; and forwarding the second packet based on the second modified address.