Patent Document ID: 9819699
Application ID: 15292669
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for providing distributed rule sets for network security appliances, comprising: generating, by a management server from a rule database comprising a plurality of packet processing rules, a first rule set for a first security appliance deployed as an intermediary between a first local area network and a wide area network, the first rule set comprising a first subset of the packet processing rules and a second subset of the packet processing rules by: adding the first subset of the packet processing rules to the first rule set, adding a first additional packet processing rule of the packet processing rules to the first rule set, determining that a storage size of the first rule set is below a predetermined threshold, and responsive to the determination, adding a second additional packet processing rule of the packet processing rules to the first rule set, the second subset of the packet processing rules comprising the first additional packet processing rule and the second additional packet processing rule; generating, by the management server for a second security appliance deployed as an intermediary between a second local area network and the wide area network, a second rule set comprising the first subset of the packet processing rules and a third subset of the packet processing rules different from the second subset, by: adding the first subset of the packet processing rules to the second rule set; and adding the third subset of the packet processing rules to the second rule set by: adding a third additional packet processing rule of the packet processing rules to the second rule set, determining that a storage size of the second rule set is below the predetermined threshold, and adding a fourth additional packet processing rule of the packet processing rules to the second rule set; wherein the third additional packet processing rule and fourth additional packet processing rule are different from the first additional packet processing rule and second additional packet processing rule; and transmitting, by the management server using the wide area network, the first rule set to the first security appliance and the second rule set to the second security appliance.