Abstract: Techniques are described for providing encryption and authentication for different types of routing protocol communications based on a variety of factors. A method comprises configuring, on a network router, a set of logical interfaces for communicating routing protocol messages with one or more peer routing devices, maintaining a set of security associations that define corresponding authentication information and encryption information for the routing protocol messages, and maintaining one or more descriptor sets that each specify a set of criteria, wherein, for at least one of the descriptor sets, the set of criteria specifies one of the logical interfaces of the network router. The method further comprises selecting one of the descriptor sets having criteria that match an individual flow, selecting one of the security associations based on the selected descriptor set, and applying the selected security association to secure the outbound flow of the routing protocol messages.

Abstract: A method and system for handling otherwise rejectable messages (e.g., out-of-order messages) sent using a communication protocol (e.g., SIP) is provided. When a message is received at a protocol layer of a client system, the message (or at least its information) is passed to a higher layer (e.g., an application layer) even if it is otherwise rejectable at the protocol layer. In this way, the protocol layer provides an application layer with the option of determining whether to discard the otherwise rejectable message. In some embodiments, the protocol layer may automatically acknowledge acceptance of the message, while in other embodiments, the protocol layer may wait to receive an indication from the higher layer to determine whether to acknowledge or negatively acknowledge acceptance of the message.