Patent ID: 6615357
Filing Date: 2003-09-02
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method of operating one or more tunnels of nested protocols that integrate network address translation (NAT) at an Internet Protocol (IP) layer, comprising the steps of:configuring a tunnel NAT IP address pool; independently configuring one or more tunnels in a virtual private network to utilize tunnel NAT at one or both of a local and a remote tunnel endpoint; upon starting an instantiation of a tunnel, selectively automatically generating a specific tunnel NAT rule or using a configured tunnel NAT rule as an instantiation-specific tunnel NAT rule for said instantiation; applying said instantiation-specific NAT rule to a local or remote IP address to generate a NAT address from said NAT IP address pool; using said NAT address, negotiating tunnel configuration and operational parameters between tunnel endpoints; loading said operational parameters into an operating system kernel, said operational parameters including said instantiation-specific tunnel NAT rule; and processing packet traffic as it enters and exits said local tunnel endpoint by applying said instantiation-specific tunnel NAT rule to each packet.