Secure Traffic Load Balancing by IPSec Tunnel Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional network load balancers for secure network traffic, such as IPSec tunnels, face inefficiencies in load balancing due to unequal tunnel sizes, inability to move existing connections, configuration scale issues, and lack of control over traffic distribution, leading to uneven workloads and increased memory overhead.
Innovation Solution
Implement a network load balancer with a network processing layer that terminates secure protocol sessions, allowing for intelligent distribution of traffic based on inner flows and applying service-level agreements at the branch level, while splitting traffic into segments to optimize load balancing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional network load balancers distribute secure network traffic (IPSec tunnels) based on tunnel size, then load balancing efficiency improves, but configuration complexity and memory overhead increase due to inability to move existing connections and lack of control over traffic distribution
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments secure network traffic into smaller manageable units by terminating IPSec tunnels at the load balancer and creating individual flow entries for each inner flow. This allows granular control over traffic distribution while reducing configuration complexity, as the system automatically manages flow segmentation rather than requiring manual tunnel-level configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic load balancing by enabling the movement of existing connections between backend servers based on current load conditions. The load balancer continuously monitors backend status and can dynamically reassign active flows to different servers, providing adaptability that static tunnel-based load balancers lack.
2Stability of the object's composition
If network load balancers allow movement of existing connections between backend servers, then load distribution evenness improves, but connection management complexity and memory overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the load balancer continuously monitors backend server status, flow characteristics, and load conditions. Based on this feedback, the system makes intelligent decisions about flow distribution and can move existing connections to achieve more even load distribution, while automatically managing the complexity of tracking and relocating connections.
Solution Approach 2:
The load balancer acts as an intermediary between clients and backend servers, maintaining flow state information and controlling connection movement. This intermediary role allows the system to manage connection complexity centrally rather than distributing it across multiple servers, reducing overall system complexity while enabling dynamic load balancing.
3Measurement precision
If network load balancers implement control over traffic distribution at the tunnel level, then traffic management precision improves, but memory overhead and processing overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments traffic control from the tunnel level to the flow level. By terminating IPSec tunnels and creating individual flow entries, the system achieves precise traffic distribution control based on inner flow characteristics rather than treating entire tunnels as single units. This segmentation reduces memory overhead by only tracking necessary flow state information rather than complete tunnel states.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the control parameter from tunnel-level metrics to flow-level metrics. The load balancer uses inner flow characteristics (such as source/destination IPs, ports, and protocols) for traffic distribution decisions, providing more precise control while reducing memory requirements compared to maintaining detailed tunnel-state information.
4Adaptability or versatility
If network load balancers terminate secure protocol sessions, then traffic distribution flexibility improves, but processing overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the security protocol processing function from the backend servers and concentrates it at the load balancer. By terminating IPSec tunnels centrally, the system gains flexibility in traffic distribution while allowing backend servers to focus on application processing. The processing overhead is consolidated at the load balancer, which is optimized for this function.
Solution Approach 2:
The load balancer is designed with multi-functionality, handling both security protocol termination and load balancing operations in a single device. This universal approach consolidates processing overhead at one point in the architecture rather than requiring each backend server to maintain security tunnel processing capabilities, improving overall system efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for load balancing secure network traffic are disclosed. A system, process, and/or computer program product for load balancing secure network traffic includes monitoring network traffic for one branch of a plurality of branches for an enterprise network, and splitting the network traffic of the one branch into a plurality of network segments based on a determination that the network traffic exceeds traffic capacity of at least one security processing node (SPN) of a plurality of SPNs using a network load balancer (NLB) in communication with a plurality of Network Processing Nodes (NPNs), the plurality of monitored branches being distributed to the plurality of SPNs via a plurality of tunnels.