Wireless area network (WAN) overloading

摘要

Incoming packets communicated over a common WAN interface of a distributed host device may be processed differently depending on their traffic classification. A virtual forwarding unit classifies incoming packets as tunneled traffic, tunnel-related control traffic, remote agent traffic, or local internet traffic. Tunneled traffic classifies packets transported over data or control tunnels extending between WAN interfaces of distributed host devices. Tunnel-related control traffic classifies packets communicated to measure a quality parameter of the data or control tunnels, such as operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) packets. Remote agent traffic classifies packets associated with existing remote agent sessions, which are created and tracked based on outgoing management traffic originating from the virtual remote agent. Local internet traffic classifies packets associated with existing local internet sessions, which are created and tracked based on outgoing local internet traffic.

主权项

1. A method for multiplexing traffic over a single interface of a distributed host device, the method comprising:
receiving incoming packets over a wide area network (WAN) interface of a local host device, wherein one or more tunnels extend from the WAN interface of the local host device to remote WAN interfaces of remote host devices, and wherein the incoming packets are stored in a virtual data forwarding unit instantiated on the local host device; assigning one of a plurality of traffic classifications to the incoming packets, the plurality of traffic classifications including at least tunneled traffic, tunnel-related control traffic, and remote agent traffic, wherein the tunneled traffic classifies packets transported over the one or more tunnels, wherein the tunnel-related control traffic classifies packets communicated to measure a quality parameter of the one or more tunnels, and wherein the remote agent traffic classifies packets associated with a virtual remote agent instantiated on the local host device; attempting to validate the incoming packets using authentication procedures associated with the assigned traffic classifications, wherein different authentication procedures are associated with different traffic classifications, and wherein incoming packets deemed invalid are dropped from the virtual data forwarding unit; and processing or forwarding incoming packets that are successfully validated.