Firewall load balancing using a single physical device
US7401355B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 30, 2004 |
| Grant date | Jul 15, 2008 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 3, 2026 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L63/08
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Methods and systems for load balancing a plurality of entities, such as firewalls, in a network environment are disclosed. In particular, the load balancing of firewalls on a bidirectional traffic path is performed using a single device that controls both incoming and outgoing traffic through the firewalls. The single device may include virtual routers for controlling the bidirectional traffic through the firewalls. A first virtual router may control incoming traffic to the firewalls and the other virtual router may control outgoing traffic to the firewalls. The virtual routers are logical partitions of the device layered on the physical resources of the device. The virtual routers share all or portions of the physical resources of the single device.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.