Cisco Technology, Inc.

John C Mayes

Brantley W Coile

Martin Cieslak

Ricky Kwong Lowe

A system and method are disclosed for providing perform network address translation of network layer addresses of packets exchanged between nodes on a local network and nodes outside the local network. This allows local hosts in an enterprise network to share global IP addresses from a limited pool of such addresses available to the enterprise. The translation may be accomplished by replacing the source address in headers on packets destined for the Internet and by replacing destination address in headers on packets entering the local enterprise network from the Internet. Packets arriving from the Internet are screened by an adaptive security algorithm. According to this algorithm, packets are dropped and logged unless they are deemed nonthreatening.

Security system for network address translation systems

A system and method are provided for translating local IP addresses to globally unique IP addresses. This allows local hosts in an enterprise network to share global IP addresses from a limited pool of such addresses available to the enterprise. The translation is accomplished by replacing the source address in headers on packets destined for the Internet and by replacing destination address in headers on packets entering the local enterprise network from the Internet. Packets arriving from the Internet are screened by an adaptive security algorithm. According to this algorithm, packets are dropped and logged unless they are deemed nonthreatening. DNS packets and certain types of ICMP packets are allowed to enter local network. In addition, FTP data packets are allowed to enter the local network, but only after it has been established that their destination on the local network initiated an FTP session.

Methods and apparatus for facilitating data transmission in a network are described. A first data request is received at a first intermediate platform, the first data request indicating a source platform and a destination platform. The first data request is redirected by the first intermediate platform to a first cache platform associated with the intermediate platform. Data received from the first cache platform and corresponding to the first data request are transmitted from the first intermediate platform to the source platform, the transmission indicating origination from the destination platform.

Methods and apparatus for caching network data traffic

A method is described herein for facilitating data transmission in a network. A first data request is received at a first intermediate platform, the first data request indicating a source platform and a destination platform. The first data request is redirected by the first intermediate platform to a first cache platform associated with the intermediate platform. Data corresponding to the first data request is transmitted from the first cache platform to the source platform. The data indicates origination from the destination platform.

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Redwood City, CA, United States of America

John C Mayes