Prioritizing application traffic through network tunnels

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10587583-B2
Application number	US-201715641354-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 5, 2017
Priority date	May 19, 2017
Publication date	Mar 10, 2020
Grant date	Mar 10, 2020

Abstract

Disclosed are various examples for prioritizing application traffic through network tunnels between a client device and a tunnel endpoint. Network traffic is received from each of a plurality of applications executed by the client device. It is determined that the network traffic of a first application of the plurality of applications is associated with a lower priority than the network traffic of a second application of the plurality of applications. A bandwidth allocation to the network traffic of the first application is limited in the encrypted tunnel as compared to a bandwidth allocation to the network traffic of the second application in the encrypted tunnel according to the lower priority. The network traffic of each of the plurality of applications is forwarded through the encrypted tunnel to the tunnel endpoint.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying at least one program executable in a client device, the at least one program, when executed by the client device, being configured to cause the client device to at least:
receive network traffic from each of a plurality of applications executed by the client device;
determine that the network traffic for each of the plurality of applications is to be forwarded through a single encrypted tunnel to a tunnel endpoint;
determine, by applying a priority rule configured on the client device, that the network traffic of a first application of the plurality of applications is associated with a lower priority than the network traffic of a second application of the plurality of applications;
limit, by the client device, a bandwidth allocation to the network traffic of the first application in the single encrypted tunnel as compared to a bandwidth allocation to the network traffic of the second application in the single encrypted tunnel according to the lower priority; and
forward the network traffic of each of the plurality of applications through the single encrypted tunnel to the tunnel endpoint.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein when executed the at least one program further causes the client device to at least:
determine an available bandwidth over a network between the client device and the tunnel endpoint; and
determine the bandwidth allocations based at least in part on the available bandwidth.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein when executed the at least one program further causes the client device to at least:
receive network traffic from a third application executed in the client device; and
determine that the network traffic for the third application is not to be forwarded through the single encrypted tunnel to the tunnel endpoint; and
forward the network traffic for the third application to a default network gateway for the client device.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein when executed the at least one program further causes the client device to at least determine that the network traffic of the first application is associated with the lower priority than the network traffic of the second application in response to determining that the first application is currently a background application in the client device and that the second application is currently a foreground application in the client device.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the priority rule designates the first application as a lower priority application than the second application.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein when executed the at least one program further causes the client device to at least:
determine that the network traffic of the first application corresponds to a first network protocol;
determine that the network traffic of the second application corresponds to a second network protocol; and
wherein the priority rule designates the first network protocol as a lower priority network protocol than the second network protocol.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein when executed the at least one program further causes the client device to at least:
determine that the network traffic of the first application is to a first network destination;
determine that the network traffic of the second application is to a second network destination; and
wherein the priority rule designates the first network destination as a lower priority destination than the second network destination.

8. A system, comprising:
a client device comprising a processor and a memory; and
a networking subsystem executable by the client device, the networking subsystem configured to cause the client device to at least:
receive network traffic from each of a plurality of applications executed by the client device;
determine that the network traffic for each of the plurality of applications is to be forwarded through a single encrypted tunnel to a tunnel endpoint;
determine, by applying a priority rule configured on the client device, that a first segment of the network traffic of a first application of the plurality of applications is associated with a lower priority than a second segment the network traffic of a second application of the plurality of applications;
prioritize, by the client device, the first segment of the network traffic of the first application in the single encrypted tunnel under the second segment of the network traffic of the second application in the single encrypted tunnel according to the lower priority; and
forward the network traffic of each of the plurality of applications through the single encrypted tunnel to the tunnel endpoint.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the networking subsystem prioritizes the first segment of the network traffic of the first application in the single encrypted tunnel under the second segment of the network traffic of the second application in the single encrypted tunnel using a priority queue.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the priority queue is configured to move a lower priority data packet associated with the lower priority to a front of the priority queue if the lower priority data packet has not been processed within a predefined amount of time.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the networking subsystem prioritizes the first segment of the network traffic of the first application in the single encrypted tunnel under the network traffic of the second application in the single encrypted tunnel by limiting a bandwidth allocation to the first segment of the network traffic of the first application.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the lower priority is determined based at least in part on a first destination associated with the first segment of the network traffic of the first application and a second destination associated with the second segment of the network traffic of the second application.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the lower priority is determined based at least in part on a first network protocol associated with the first segment of the network traffic of the first application and a second network protocol associated with the second segment of the network traffic of the second application.

14. A computer-implemented method for prioritizing network traffic in single encrypted tunnel, comprising:
receiving the network traffic to be sent through the single encrypted tunnel to a plurality of applications executed in a client device;
determining, by applying a priority rule configured on the client device, that the network traffic of a first application of the plurality of applications is associated with a lower priority than the network traffic of a second application of the plurality of applications;
prioritizing, by the client device, processing of the network traffic of the first application in the under processing of the network traffic of the second application according to the lower priority; and
forwarding the network traffic of each of the plurality of applications through the single encrypted tunnel to the client device.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , further comprising deferring processing of the network traffic of the first application based at least in part on a current processing load.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein the priority rule designates the first application as being a lower priority application relative to the sec

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Aluvala Suman
• Panchapakesan Ramani
• Paramashivaiah Niranjan
• Kavatage Mahesh
• Rangain Pavan Rajkumar

Classifications

• H04L47/245

  using preemption · CPC title

• H04L47/24

  Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS · CPC title

• H04L47/2433

  Allocation of priorities to traffic types · CPC title

• H04L63/0272

  Virtual private networks · CPC title

• H04L12/4633 Primary

  Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling · CPC title