METHOD, APPARATUSES AND PROGRAM STORAGE DEVICE FOR EFFICIENT POLICY CHANGE MANAGEMENT IN VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS

摘要

A solution is provided wherein the granularity of traffic disruption is on a per rule basis rather than a per customer basis. In an embodiment of the present invention, this is accomplished using two banks, an active bank (220), which may be used to work on the live traffic flowing through the unit, and a new bank (204), which may be used for downloading the changed policies for further processing. Whenever any change in the policies is made and applied, the new policies get downloaded into the new bank (204), and each module then has a chance to work on the new bank (204). Once the work is complete, then a switch to the new bank (204) may be made. This guarantees smooth transition between the old and new policies.