Central NAT Manager Port Allocation Strategies

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Solution Overview

Problem

Large-scale networked systems face inefficiencies in allocating ports for network address translation (NAT) due to the need for dynamic and timely allocation of resources, leading to increased latency and overhead in establishing outbound connections.

Innovation Solution

A central NAT manager pre-allocates ports to endpoints during initial configuration and dynamically allocates additional ports based on predicted demand, with options for reserving ports for later allocation, optimizing resource usage and reducing latency.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If ports are dynamically allocated during runtime, then resource flexibility is improved, but allocation latency increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveresource flexibilityVSAvoidallocation latency

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system pre-allocates ports to endpoints during initial configuration before runtime operations begin. This preliminary action ensures that ports are already assigned and ready when needed, eliminating allocation latency during runtime while maintaining the ability to dynamically allocate additional ports if required

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Speed

If ports are pre-allocated to all endpoints, then connection speed is improved, but port resource waste increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveconnection speedVSAvoidport resource waste

Core Design Contradiction:

SpeedVSLoss of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The system applies different port allocation strategies to different endpoints based on their specific needs. Some endpoints receive pre-allocated ports for immediate connection speed, while others use dynamic allocation. The system also allows endpoints to release unused pre-allocated ports back to the pool, optimizing resource utilization locally for each endpoint

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Ease of operation

If port allocation is centralized, then management control is improved, but system overhead increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemanagement controlVSAvoidsystem overhead

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements a hybrid approach where the central NAT manager maintains overall control and allocation policies, but endpoints can autonomously use their pre-allocated ports without requiring continuous central management intervention. This self-service capability reduces the operational overhead on the central system while maintaining management control

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentUS9003002B2Efficient port management for a distributed network address translation

Publication Date: 2015.04.07 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

A central NAT manager efficiently allocates ports to endpoints of a tenant application in a hosting environment for NAT purposes. In some instances, the central NAT manager may pre-allocate ports to endpoints as part of the initial configuration of the tenant application. The pre-allocation process may include persisting pre-allocated port state information in storage and configuring endpoints and a NAT device with the pre-allocated port state information. Additional ports may be dynamically allocated to endpoints during runtime using dynamically determined port allocation sizes. In other instances, the central NAT manager may reserve ports for endpoints during the initial configuration of the tenant application by assigning ports to endpoints and persisting port assignment information to storage. During runtime, endpoints may issue port allocation requests to the central NAT manager, which may allocate ports to the endpoints from the range of ports initially reserved for each endpoint.