Patent ID: 8634560

Claim:
A method comprising: determining, by a server device, a particular amount of time; sending, by the server device, information identifying the particular amount of time to members of a group virtual private network (VPN) during a VPN registration process, the particular amount of time being based on a round trip time for an exchange of a message between the server device and one of the members of the group VPN; identifying, by the server device, an expiration time of a first traffic encapsulation key (TEK); sending, by the server device, a second TEK to the members of the group VPN based on the particular amount of time and the expiration time of the first TEK; receiving, by the server device, a request, from a particular member of the members of the group VPN, that is sent by the particular member based on the particular amount of time; and sending, by the server device and to the particular member, the second TEK as a response to the request, the members of the group VPN transitioning from the first TEK to the second TEK before the expiration time of the first TEK.