Load balancing among a cluster of firewall security devices
US9288183B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 20, 2015 |
| Grant date | Mar 15, 2016 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 20, 2035 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L63/0227
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method for balancing load among firewall security devices in a network is disclosed. According to one embodiment, a switch causes firewall security devices (FSDs) of a cluster to enter into a load balancing mode. Responsive to receiving a heartbeat signal from an FSD, information regarding the FSD and the port on which the heartbeat signal was received are added to a table maintained by the switch that maps outputs of a load balancing function to ports of the switch. A received packet is forwarded to an FSD of the cluster by: (i) extracting a configurable number of bit values from a configurable set of bit positions within the packet; (ii) determining the output of the load balancing function; (iii) identifying the port to which the FSD is coupled based on the output and the table; and (iv) transmitting the packet to the FSD via the identified port.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.