Dual DNS Lookup for Intranet Traffic Routing
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing data communication networks face challenges in efficiently distinguishing between requests for public and intranet sites, leading to potential bandwidth wastage and slowed communications due to restrictive mobile device operating systems.
Innovation Solution
Implementing dual DNS lookups on both the client device and server sides to determine if a request is for a public or intranet site, allowing the hosted application to redirect traffic accordingly and establish secure connections only for intranet sites, thereby optimizing bandwidth usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If all web requests are routed through the secure tunnel connection to the private network, then intranet site access is enabled, but bandwidth is wasted on public site requests and network performance slows down
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments web traffic into two categories: intranet site requests and public site requests. By performing DNS lookups on both the client device and the private network server, the system can determine whether a requested domain resolves to an intranet IP address or a public IP address. This segmentation allows the system to route only intranet traffic through the secure tunnel connection, while public traffic is handled by the device's default browser, thus eliminating wasted bandwidth on public sites while maintaining reliable intranet access.
2Ease of operation
If mobile device operating systems are used for network routing, then device control is maintained, but communications are slowed down and restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism - a hosted application that acts as a mediator between the mobile device's operating system and the secure tunnel connection. The hosted application performs dual DNS lookups and intelligently routes traffic without requiring changes to the underlying mobile OS. This intermediary approach maintains device control through the hosted application layer while significantly improving communication speed by optimizing the routing path for different types of traffic, bypassing the restrictive OS-level routing for public sites.
3Measurement precision
If dual DNS lookups are performed on both client and server sides, then public versus intranet requests are accurately detected, but additional processing time is required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing the first DNS lookup on the client device before establishing the secure tunnel connection. This preliminary DNS resolution allows the system to pre-determine whether a requested domain is an intranet or public site before committing resources to the tunnel connection. By doing this preliminary check, the system avoids the time cost of establishing full tunnel connections for public sites, while still maintaining high detection accuracy through the dual-lookup mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure is directed towards systems and methods for performing dual domain name system (DNS) lookups to detect whether a request is for a public site versus an intranet site on a private network. A hosted application on a client device on a first network can receive web page content from a second network via a tunnel connection. The hosted application may intercept a request on the client device to access an intranet site on the second network identified by the web page content. An IP address resolution can be performed of a first DNS lookup of sites on the first network and a second DNS lookup can be performed. The hosted application can communicate the request via the tunnel connection to a second device on the second network responsive to determining that the first IP address resolution is different from the second IP address resolution.