Patent ID: 7787497

Claim:
A method comprising: identifying a plurality of RADIUS attributes to be transmitted from a first processing system to a second processing system over a network to establish a virtual private network (VPN) tunnel; forming a group of at least some of the plurality of RADIUS attributes that are related to the VPN tunnel; generating a packet; inserting into said packet, by said first processing system, a particular RADIUS vendor specific attribute (VSA) designated as a beginning of group identifier; inserting into said packet, by said first processing system, the group of RADIUS attributes, behind said particular RADIUS VSA designated as said beginning of group identifier, said plurality of RADIUS attributes in said group presented in said packet absent any individual tags that identify each attribute as a part of a group; inserting into said packet, by said first processing system, a particular RADIUS VSA designated as an end of group identifier, behind said group of RADIUS attributes; and transmitting said packet from said first processing system to said second processing system, wherein said particular RADIUS VSA designated as said beginning of group identifier is the same attribute as said particular RADIUS VSA designated as said end of group identifier.