Patent ID: 7316028
Filing Date: 2008-01-01
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of transmitting information across a firewall among a plurality of computers, at least one first of the computers being at a first side of the firewall and at least one second of the computers being at a second side of the firewall, wherein at least one first proxy at the first side of the firewall and at least one second proxy at the second side of the firewall are associated respectively with the at least one first computer and with the at least one second computer, including the steps of: generating a plurality of firewall-incompatible messages that enable a server that is connected to the at least one second of the computers at the second side of the firewall to manage resources of the at least one first computer at the first side of the firewall; establishing a pass-through communication tunnel that directly connects each first and second proxy, the communication tunnel being secured by mutual authentication of the corresponding first and second proxies; causing a transmitting one of the computers to send a firewall-incompatible message, of the plurality of firewall-incompatible messages, for a receiving one of the computers at the other side of the firewall to a transmitting one of the associated at least one proxy; sending the firewall-incompatible message from the transmitting proxy to a receiving one of the at least one proxy at the other side of the firewall through the corresponding tunnel; associating the firewall-incompatible message with the receiving computer; and forwarding the firewall-incompatible message from the receiving proxy to the receiving computer, wherein each first computer consists of an endpoint in a demilitarized zone and each second computer consists of a gateway in a private network, further including the steps under the control of the second proxy of: wherein the at least one first computer and the at least one first proxy consist of a plurality of first computers and a plurality of first proxies, respectively, an identifier of the first proxies being stored in a further memory structure on the second proxy, and further including the steps under the control of the second proxy of: