Abstract: Disclosed are methods and apparatus for methods and apparatus for facilitating a secure connection between a first and a second node in a computer network where one or both of the nodes may or may not reside behind a network address translation (NAT) enabled gateway. Embodiments of the present invention provide a seamless integration by providing a uniform solution for establishing secure connections, such as IPSEC, between two nodes irrespective of whether they are behind a NAT-enabled gateway or not. In general, a gateway is operable to receive a request from a remote host for a secure connection to a local host that within the home network of the gateway. The gateway then forwards this received request to a NAT traversal service. The NAT traversal service receives the request and then automatically sends an initiation message to set up a secure session, e.g., performing authentication and exchanging keys.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
August 4, 2005
Date of Patent:
March 8, 2011
Assignee:
Cisco Technology, Inc.
Inventors:
Deepali Apurva Brahmbhatt, Mark Enright