Method and apparatus in an application framework system for providing a port and network hardware resource firewall for distributed applications

[0001] The present application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/738,334 entitled “SIMPLIFIED NETWORK PACKET ANALYZER FOR DISTRIBUTED PACKET SNOOPER” filed even date herewith. The content of the above mentioned commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application is hereby incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to an improved data processing system and, in particular, to a method and system for multiple computer or process coordinating. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method and system for network resource management.

[0004] 2. Description of Related Art

[0005] Network and Internet security issues have become major issues for businesses as businesses have become more reliant on computer systems in order to carry out their business plan. For example, many business computer systems have had the security or performance of their computer networks compromised as a result of “computer hackers.” Some of these “hacks” have resulted in millions of dollars in lost revenue. In order to understand internet and network related security issues, it is helpful to have a basic working knowledge of Internet Protocol, and how it is used by all internet computers to communicate with each other.

[0006] Computer networking is built around several basic protocols. Internet Protocol or IP is the basis for all communications over the internet. IP is used by all computers on the internet to communicate with each other. When you use a web browser, your computer uses IP to establish connections to the web server. This works in reverse as well. Other computers on the internet can use IP to contact your computer.

[0007] Ports are used by a computer to control which service is accessed when establishing a connection. If you are communicating with Secure Design for example and you are sending e-mail, your computer establishes a connection to port 25 (SMTP) however if you are accessing a web page, you must connect to port 80 (http). Ports on a computer range from 1 to 65535. Ports under 1024 are reserved for system processes such as mail and web servers. Ports above 1024 are often used for outbound connections.

[0008] When establishing a connection to a server, your computer specifies the server address and the target port number. When the request is made, the server responds by allowing the connection or responding with a “port closed” message.

[0009] Port scanning is a method of probing a computer to see what ports are open. This is usually a brute force operation where one simply tries to establish a connection to each and every port on the target computer. When a connection is established, the caller makes note of the port number and continues on. The caller can then examine these ports later to see if any known security holes exist.

[0010] Even if a business is on a basic dialup internet account, it needs to take precautions to ensure your computer is not broken into. Even small businesses should not make the assumption that nobody will find its one little computer in the vast expanse of the internet. Many programs exist that will allow miscreants to automatically scan large blocks of internet addresses. Some only look for Windows file sharing ports, while others look for any open port.

[0011] One problem with port scanners as currently implemented is that it can only be determined whether a TCP/IP port is opened or closed. No other useful information, such as where port data is going or what the port data is. Another problem is that ports can be opened in software and then used for security holes. Furthermore, there is currently no method for controlling a port scanner in a distributed data processing system. Since port firewalls are currently implemented to not allow any applications to open them, it would be advantageous to have the ability to both allow a port to not only be opened based on application name, but also to track the usage of the port.

[0012] The present invention provides a method, system, apparatus, and computer program product for a distributed port firewall system. The distributed port firewall system provides mapping of port usage to application needs, application action object (AAO) used to identify the use of ports. Application action object may be opened based on endpoint and user. Port firewalls “properties” are added in order to configure firewall, which are only configurable by certain trusted users or applications. Different policies applied to usage and the opening of ports based on both a collection of endpoints, managed regions, or on a per endpoint basis. Beyond just allowing an application to open a port, the allowed packet types are also configured to work in conjunction with a distributed packet snooper session.

[0031] With reference now to FIG. 1A, a diagram depicts a known logical configuration of software and hardware resources. In this example, the software is organized in an object-oriented system. Application object 102, device driver object 104, and operating system object 106 communicate across network 108 with other objects and with hardware resources 110-114.

[0032] In general, the objects require some type of processing, input/output, or storage capability from the hardware resources. The objects may execute on the same device to which the hardware resource is connected, or the objects may be physically dispersed throughout a distributed computing environment. The objects request access to the hardware resource in a variety of manners, e.g. operating system calls to device drivers. Hardware resources are generally available on a first-come, first-serve basis in conjunction with some type of arbitration scheme to ensure that the requests for resources are fairly handled. In some cases, priority may be given to certain requesters, but in most implementations, all requests are eventually processed.

[0033] With reference now to FIG. 1B, a block diagram depicts a known configuration of software and/or hardware network resources. A computer-type device is functioning as firewall 120, which is usually some combination of software and hardware, to monitor data traffic from exterior network 122 to internal protected network 124. Firewall 120 reads data received by network interface card (NIC) 126 and determines whether the data should be allowed to proceed onto the internal network. If so, then firewall 120 relays the data through NIC 128. The firewall can perform similar processes for outbound data to prevent certain types of data traffic from being transmitted, such as HTTP (Hypertext Transport Protocol) Requests to certain domains.

[0034] More importantly for this context, the firewall can prevent certain types of network traffic from reaching devices that reside on the internal protected network. For example, the firewall can examine the frame types or other information of the received data packets to stop certain types of information that has been previously determined to be harmful, such as virus probes, broadcast data, pings, etc. As an additional example, entities that are outside of the internal network and lack the proper authorization may attempt to discover, through various methods, the topology of the internal network and the types of resources that are available on the internal network in order to plan electronic attacks on the network. Firewalls can prevent these types of discovery practices.

[0035] The present invention provides a methodology for discovering available resources and operating a framework for leasing these resources in a fair yet distributed manner. The manner in which the lease management is performed is described further below in more detail after the description of the preferred embodiment of the distributed computing environment in which the present invention operates.

[0036] With reference now to FIG. 2A, the present invention is preferably implemented in a large distributed computer environment 210 comprising up to thousands of “nodes”. The nodes will typically be geographically dispersed and the overall environment is “managed” in a distributed manner. Preferably, the managed environment is logically broken down into a series of loosely connected managed regions (MRs) 212, each with its own management server 214 for managing local resources with the managed region. The network typically will include other servers (not shown) for carrying out other distributed network functions. These include name servers, security servers, file servers, thread servers, time servers and the like. Multiple servers 214 coordinate activities across the enterprise and permit remote management and operation. Each server 214 serves a number of gateway machines 216, each of which in turn support a plurality of endpoints/terminal nodes 218. The server 214 coordinates all activity within the managed region using a terminal node manager at server 214.

[0037] With reference now to FIG. 2B, each gateway machine 216 runs a server component 222 of a system management framework. The server component 222 is a multi-threaded runtime process that comprises several components: an object request broker (ORB) 221, an authorization service 223, object location service 225 and basic object adaptor (BOA) 227. Server component 222 also includes an object library 229. Preferably, ORB 221 runs continuously, separate from the operating system, and it communicates with both server and client processes through separate stubs and skeletons via an interprocess communication (IPC) facility 219. In particular, a secure remote procedure call (RPC) is used to invoke operations on remote objects. Gateway machine 216 also includes operating system 215 and thread mechanism 217.

[0038] The system management framework, also termed distributed kernel services (DKS), includes a client component 224 supported on each of the endpoint machines 218. The client component 224 is a low cost, low maintenance application suite that is preferably “dataless” in the sense that system management data is not cached or stored there in a persistent manner. Implementation of the management framework in this “client-server” manner has significant advantages over the prior art, and it facilitates the connectivity of personal computers into the managed environment. It should be noted, however, that an endpoint may also have an ORB for remote object-oriented operations within the distributed environment, as explained in more detail further below.

[0039] Using an object-oriented approach, the system management framework facilitates execution of system management tasks required to manage the resources in the managed region. Such tasks are quite varied and include, without limitation, file and data distribution, network usage monitoring, user management, printer or other resource configuration management, and the like. In a preferred implementation, the object-oriented framework includes a Java runtime environment for well-known advantages, such as platform independence and standardized interfaces. Both gateways and endpoints operate portions of the system management tasks through cooperation between the client and server portions of the distributed kernel services.

[0040] In a large enterprise, such as the system that is illustrated in FIG. 2A, there is preferably one server per managed region with some number of gateways. For a workgroup-size installation, e.g., a local area network, a single server-class machine may be used as both a server and a gateway. References herein to a distinct server and one or more gateway(s) should thus not be taken by way of limitation as these elements may be combined into a single platform. For intermediate size installations, the managed region grows breadth-wise, with additional gateways then being used to balance the load of the endpoints.

[0041] The server is the top-level authority over all gateway and endpoints. The server maintains an endpoint list, which keeps track of every endpoint in a managed region. This list preferably contains all information necessary to uniquely identify and manage endpoints including, without limitation, such information as name, location, and machine type. The server also maintains the mapping between endpoints and gateways, and this mapping is preferably dynamic.

[0042] As noted above, there are one or more gateways per managed region. Preferably, a gateway is a fully managed node that has been configured to operate as a gateway. In certain circumstances, though, a gateway may be regarded as an endpoint. A gateway always has a NIC, so a gateway is also always an endpoint. A gateway usually uses itself as the first seed during a discovery process. Initially, a gateway does not have any information about endpoints. As endpoints login, the gateway builds an endpoint list for its endpoints. The gateway's duties preferably include: listening for endpoint login requests, listening for endpoint update requests, and (its main task) acting as a gateway for method invocations on endpoints.

[0043] As also discussed above, the endpoint is a machine running the system management framework client component, which is referred to herein as a management agent. The management agent has two main parts as illustrated in FIG. 2C: daemon 226 and application runtime library 228. Daemon 226 is responsible for endpoint login and for spawning application endpoint executables. Once an executable is spawned, daemon 226 has no further interaction with it. Each executable is linked with application runtime library 228, which handles all further communication with the gateway.

[0044] Preferably, the server and each of the gateways is a distinct computer. For example, each computer may be a RISC System/6000™ (a reduced instruction set or so-called RISC-based workstation) running the AIX (Advanced Interactive Executive) operating system. Of course, other machines and/or operating systems may be used as well for the gateway and server machines.

[0045] Each endpoint is also a computing device. In one preferred embodiment of the invention, most of the endpoints are personal computers, e.g., desktop machines or laptops. In this architecture, the endpoints need not be high powered or complex machines or workstations. An endpoint computer preferably includes a Web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer. An endpoint computer thus may be connected to a gateway via the Internet, an intranet or some other computer network.

[0046] Preferably, the client-class framework running on each endpoint is a low-maintenance, low-cost framework that is ready to do management tasks but consumes few machine resources because it is normally in an idle state. Each endpoint may be “dataless” in the sense that system management data is not stored therein before or after a particular system management task is implemented or carried out.

[0047] With reference now to FIG. 2D, a diagram depicts a logical configuration of software objects residing within a hardware network similar to that shown in FIG. 2A. The endpoints in FIG. 2D are similar to the endpoints shown in FIG. 2B. Object-oriented software, similar to the collection of objects shown in FIG. 1A, executes on the endpoints. Endpoints 230 and 231 support application objects 232-233, device driver objects 234-235, and operating system objects 236-237 that communicate across a network with other objects and hardware resources.

[0048] Resources can be grouped together by an enterprise into managed regions representing meaningful groups. Overlaid on these regions are domains that divide resources into groups of resources that are managed by gateways. The gateway machines provide access to the resources and also perform routine operations on the resources, such as polling. FIG. 2D shows that endpoints and objects can be grouped into managed regions that represent branch offices 238 and 239 of an enterprise, and certain resources are controlled by in central office 240. Neither a branch office nor a central office is necessarily restricted to a single physical location, but each represents some of the hardware resources of the distributed application framework, such as routers, system management servers, endpoints, gateways, and critical applications, such as corporate management Web servers. Different types of gateways can allow access to different types of resources, although a single gateway can serve as a portal to resources of different types.

[0049] With reference now to FIG. 2E, a diagram depicts the logical relationships between components within a system management framework that includes two endpoints and a gateway. FIG. 2E shows more detail of the relationship between components at an endpoint. Network 250 includes gateway 251 and endpoints 252 and 253, which contain similar components, as indicated by the similar reference numerals used in the figure. An endpoint may support a set of applications 254 that use services provided by the distributed kernel services 255, which may rely upon a set of platform-specific operating system resources 256. Operating system resources may include TCP/IP-type resources, SNMP-type resources, and other types of resources. For example, a subset of TCP/IP-type resources may be a line printer (LPR) resource that allows an endpoint to receive print jobs from other endpoints. Applications 254 may also provide self-defined sets of resources that are accessible to other endpoints. Network device drivers 257 send and receive data through NIC hardware 258 to support communication at the endpoint.

[0050] With reference now to FIG. 2F, a diagram depicts the logical relationships between components within a system management framework that includes a gateway supporting two DKS-enabled applications. Gateway 260 communicates with network 262 through NIC 264. Gateway 260 contains ORB 266 that supports DKS-enabled applications 268 and 269. FIG. 2F shows that a gateway can also support applications. In other words, a gateway should not be viewed as merely being a management platform but may also execute other types of applications.

[0051] With reference now to FIG. 2G, a diagram depicts the logical relationships between components within a system management framework that includes two gateways supporting two endpoints. Gateway 270 communicates with network 272 through NIC 274. Gateway 270 contains ORB 276 that may provide a variety of services, as is explained in more detail further below. In this particular example, FIG. 2G shows that a gateway does not necessarily connect with individual endpoints.

[0052] Gateway 270 communicates through NIC 278 and network 279 with gateway 280 and its NIC 282. Gateway 280 contains ORB 284 for supporting a set of services. Gateway 280 communicates through NIC 286 and network 287 to endpoint 290 through its NIC 292 and to endpoint 294 through its NIC 296. Endpoint 290 contains ORB 298 while endpoint 294 does not contain an ORB. In this particular example, FIG. 2G also shows that an endpoint does not necessarily contain an ORB. Hence, any use of endpoint 294 as a resource is performed solely through management processes at gateway 280.

[0053] FIGS. 2F and 2G also depict the importance of gateways in determining routes/data paths within a highly distributed system for addressing resources within the system and for performing the actual routing of requests for resources. The importance of representing NICs as objects for an object-oriented routing system is described in more detail further below.

[0054] As noted previously, the present invention is directed to a methodology for managing leases on system resources within a distributed computing environment. A resource is a portion of a computer system's physical units, a portion of a computer system's logical units, or a portion of the computer system's functionality that is identifiable or addressable in some manner to other physical or logical units within the system.

[0055] In the present invention, consumers of resources can obtain leases on consumable resources such that the resources are made available in a timely yet equitable manner. Resources can be restricted during the lease period. For example, an application can obtain a lease for a certain amount of bandwidth for a requested period of time, and the lessee is notified when it must reduce its bandwidth. The preferred embodiment is described in more detail in the following description of the remaining figures.

[0056] With reference now to FIG. 3, a block diagram depicts components within the system management framework that provide resource leasing management functionality within a distributed computing environment such as that shown in FIGS. 2D-2E. A network contains gateway 300 and endpoints 301 and 302. Gateway 302 runs ORB 304. In general, an ORB can support different services that are configured and run in conjunction with an ORB. In this case, distributed kernel services (DKS) include Network Endpoint Location Service (NELS) 306, IP Object Persistence (IPOP) service 308, and Gateway Service 310. Lease management server 312 also operates within ORB 304. Alternatively, lease management server 312 can be permanently implemented as part of the Gateway Service.

[0057] The Gateway Service processes action objects, which are explained in more detail below, and directly communicates with endpoints or agents to perform management operations. The gateway receives events from resources and passes the events to interested parties within the distributed system. The NELS works in combination with action objects and determines which gateway to use to reach a particular resource. A gateway is determined by using the discovery service of the appropriate topology driver, and the gateway location may change due to load balancing or failure of primary gateways.

[0058] Other resource level services may include an SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) service that provides protocol stacks, polling service, and trap receiver and filtering functions. The SNMP Service can be used directly by certain components and applications when higher performance is required or the location independence provided by the gateways and action objects is not desired. A Metadata Service can also be provided to distribute information concerning the structure of SNMP agents.

[0059] The representation of resources within DKS allows for the dynamic management and use of those resources by applications. DKS does not impose any particular representation, but it does provide an object-oriented structure for applications to model resources. The use of object technology allows models to present a unified appearance to management applications and hide the differences among the underlying physical or logical resources. Logical and physical resources can be modeled as separate objects and related to each other using relationship attributes.

[0060] By using objects, for example, a system may implement an abstract concept of a router and then use this abstraction within a range of different router hardware. The common portions can be placed into an abstract router class while modeling the important differences in subclasses, including representing a complex system with multiple objects. With an abstracted and encapsulated function, the management applications do not have to handle many details for each managed resource. A router usually has many critical parts, including a routing subsystem, memory buffers, control components, interfaces, and multiple layers of communication protocols. Using multiple objects has the burden of creating multiple object identifiers (OIDs) because each object instance has its own OID. However, a first order object can represent the entire resource and contain references to all of the constituent parts.

[0061] Each endpoint may support an object request broker, such as ORBs 320 and 322, for assisting in remote object-oriented operations within the DKS environment. Endpoint 301 contains DKS-enabled application 324 that requests leases for utilizing object-oriented resources found within the distributed computing environment. Endpoint 302 contains target resource provider object or application 326 that services the requests from DKS-enabled application 324. The lease requests are initiated through lease management client 328. Lease management server 312 at the gateway eventually receives and manages the lease requests. A set of DKS services 330 and 334 support each particular endpoint.

[0062] Applications require some type of insulation from the specifics of the operations of gateways. In the DKS environment, applications create action objects that encapsulate command which are sent to gateways, and the applications wait for the return of the action object. Action objects contain all of the information necessary to run a command on a resource. The application does not need to know the specific protocol that is used to communicate with the resource. The application is unaware of the location of the resource because it issues an action object into the system, and the action object itself locates and moves to the correct gateway. The location independence allows the NELS to balance the load between gateways independently of the applications and also allows the gateways to handle resources or endpoints that move or need to be serviced by another gateway.

[0063] The communication between a gateway and an action object is asynchronous, and the action objects provide error handling and recovery. If one gateway goes down or becomes overloaded, another gateway is located for executing the action object, and communication is established again with the application from the new gateway. Once the controlling gateway of the selected endpoint has been identified, the action object will transport itself there for further processing of the command or data contained in the action object. If it is within the same ORB, it is a direct transport. If it is within another ORB, then the transport can be accomplished with a “Moveto” command or as a parameter on a method call.

[0064] Queuing the action object on the gateway results in a controlled process for the sending and receiving of data from the IP devices. As a general rule, the queued action objects are executed in the order that they arrive at the gateway. The action object may create child action objects if the collection of endpoints contains more than a single ORB ID or gateway ID. The parent action object is responsible for coordinating the completion status of any of its children. The creation of child action objects is transparent to the calling application. A gateway processes incoming action objects, assigns a priority, and performs additional security challenges to prevent rogue action object attacks. The action object is delivered to the gateway that must convert the information in the action object to a form suitable for the agent. The gateway manages multiple concurrent action objects targeted at one or more agents, returning the results of the operation to the calling managed object as appropriate.

[0065] In the preferred embodiment, potentially leasable target resources are Internet protocol (IP) commands, e.g. pings, and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) commands that can be executed against endpoints in a managed region. Referring again to FIGS. 2F and 2G, each NIC at a gateway or an endpoint may be used to address an action object. Each NIC is represented as an object within the IPOP database, which is described in more detail further below.

[0066] Since port firewalls are currently implemented to not allow any applications to open them, it would be advantageous to have the ability to both allow a port to be opened based on application name and to also track the usage of the port. The application action object described in the following paragraphs are used in order to both manage the type of information sent to a port as well as track the amount of usage of a port.

[0067] The Action Object IP (AOIP) Class is a subclass of the Action Object Class. AOIP objects are the primary vehicle that establishes a connection between an application and a designated IP endpoint using a gateway or stand-alone service. In addition, the Action Object SNMP (AOSnmp) Class is also a subclass of the Action Object Class. AOSnmp objects are the primary vehicle that establishes a connection between an application and a designated SNMP endpoint via a gateway or the Gateway Service. However, the present invention is primarily concerned with IP endpoints.

[0068] The AOIP class should include the following: a constructor to initialize itself; an interface to the NELS; a mechanism by which the action object can use the ORB to transport itself to the selected gateway; a mechanism by which to communicate with the SNMP stack in a stand-alone mode; a security check verification of access rights to endpoints; a container for either data or commands to be executed at the gateway; a mechanism by which to pass commands or classes to the appropriate gateway or endpoint for completion; and public methods to facilitate the communication between objects.

[0069] The instantiation of an AOIP object creates a logical circuit between an application and the targeted gateway or endpoint. This circuit is persistent until command completion through normal operation or until an exception is thrown. When created, the AOIP object instantiates itself as an object and initializes any internal variables required. An action object IP may be capable of running a command from inception or waiting for a future command. A program that creates an AOIP object must supply the following elements: address of endpoints; function to be performed on the endpoint, class, or object; and data arguments specific to the command to be run. A small part of the action object must contain the return end path for the object. This may identify how to communicate with the action object in case of a breakdown in normal network communications. An action object can contain either a class or object containing program information or data to be delivered eventually to an endpoint or a set of commands to be performed at the appropriate gateway. Action objects IP return back a result for each address endpoint targeted.

[0070] Using commands such as “Ping”, “Trace Route”, “Wake-On LAN”, and “Discovery”, the AOIP object performs the following services: facilitates the accumulation of metrics for the user connections; assists in the description of the topology of a connection; performs Wake-On LAN tasks using helper functions; and discovers active agents in the network environment.

[0071] The NELS service finds a route (data path) to communicate between the application and the appropriate endpoint. The NELS service converts input to protocol, network address, and gateway location for use by action objects. The NELS service is a thin service that supplies information discovered by the IPOP service. The primary roles of the NELS service are as follows: support the requests of applications for routes; maintain the gateway and endpoint caches that keep the route information; ensure the security of the requests; and perform the requests as efficiently as possible to enhance performance.

[0072] For example, an application requires a target endpoint (target resource) to be located. The target is ultimately known within the DKS space using traditional network values, i.e. a specific network address and a specific protocol identifier. An action object is generated on behalf of an application to resolve the network location of an endpoint. The action object asks the NELS service to resolve the network address and define the route to the endpoint in that network.

[0073] One of the following is passed to the action object to specify a destination endpoint: an EndpointAddress object; a fully decoded NetworkAddress object; and a string representing the IP address of the IP endpoint. In combination with the action objects, the NELS service determines which gateway to use to reach a particular resource. The appropriate gateway is determined using the discovery service of the appropriate topology driver and may change due to load balancing or failure of primary gateways. An “EndpointAddress” object must consist of a collection of at least one or more unique managed resource IDs. A managed resource ID decouples the protocol selection process from the application and allows the NELS service to have the flexibility to decide the best protocol to reach an endpoint. On return from the NELS service, an “AddressEndpoint” object is returned, which contains enough information to target the best place to communicate with the selected IP endpoints. It should be noted that the address may include protocol-dependent addresses as well as protocol-independent addresses, such as the virtual private network id and the IPOP Object ID. These additional addresses handle the case where duplicate addresses exist in the managed region.

[0074] When an action needs to be taken on a set of endpoints, the NELS service determines which endpoints are managed by which gateways. When the appropriate gateway is identified, a single copy of the action object is distributed to each identified gateway. The results from the endpoints are asynchronously merged back to the caller application through the appropriate gateways. Performing the actions asynchronously allows for tracking all results whether the endpoints are connected or disconnected. If the action object IP fails to execute an action object on the target gateway, NELS is consulted to identify an alternative path for the command. If an alternate path is found, the action object IP is transported to that gateway and executed. It may be assumed that the entire set of commands within one action object IP must fail before this recovery procedure is invoked. This ActionObjectIP class described above will contain the firewall properties class whose use will be described below in FIG. 8.

[0075] With reference now to FIG. 4, a block diagram shows the manner in which data is stored by the IPOP (IP Object Persistence) service. IPOP service database 402 contains endpoint database table 404, system database table 406, and network database table 408. Each table contains a set of topological (topo) objects for facilitating the leasing of resources at IP endpoints and the execution of action objects. Information within IPOP service database 402 allows applications to generate action objects for resources previously identified as IP objects through a discovery process across the distributed computing environment. FIG. 4 merely shows that the topo objects may be separated into a variety of categories that facilitate processing on the various objects. The separation of physical network categories facilitates the efficient querying and storage of these objects while maintaining the physical network relationships in order to produce a graphical user interface of the network topology.

[0076] With reference now to FIG. 5, a block diagram shows the IPOP service in more detail. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, an IP driver subsystem is implemented as a collection of software components for discovering, i.e. detecting, IP “objects”, i.e. IP networks, IP systems, and IP endpoints by using physical network connections. This discovered physical network is used to create topology data that is then provided through other services via topology maps accessible through a graphical user interface (GUI) or for the manipulation of other applications. The IP driver system can also monitor objects for changes in IP topology and update databases with the new topology information. The IPOP service provides services for other applications to access the IP object database.

[0077] IP driver subsystem 500 contains a conglomeration of components, including one or more IP drivers 502. Every IP driver manages its own scope, and every IP driver is assigned to a topology manager within topology service 504, which can serve may than one IP driver. Topology service 504 stores topology information obtained from discovery controller 506. The information stored within the topology service may include graphs, arcs, and the relationships between nodes determined by IP mapper 508. Users can be provided with a GUI to navigate the topology, which can be stored within a database within the topology service.

[0078] IPOP service 510 provides a persistent repository 512 for discovered IP objects; persistent repository 512 contains attributes of IP objects without presentation information. Discovery controller 506 detects IP objects in Physical IP networks 514, and monitor controller 516 monitors IP objects. A persistent repository, such as IPOP database 512, is updated to contain information about the discovered and monitored IP objects. IP driver may use temporary IP data store component 518 and IP data cache component 520 as necessary for caching IP objects or storing IP objects in persistent repository 512, respectively. As discovery controller 506 and monitor controller 516 perform detection and monitoring functions, events can be written to network event manager application 522 to alert network administrators of certain occurrences within the network, such as the discovery of duplicate IP addresses or invalid network masks.

[0079] External applications/users 524 can be other users, such as network administrators at management consoles, or applications that use IP driver GUI interface 526 to configure IP driver 502, manage/unmanage IP objects, and manipulate objects in persistent repository 512. Configuration service 528 provides configuration information to IP driver 502. IP driver controller 532 serves as central control of all other IP driver components. One or more IP drivers can be deployed to provide distribution of IP discovery and promote scalability of IP driver subsystem services in large networks where a single IP driver subsystem is not sufficient to discover and monitor all IP objects. Each IP discovery driver performs discovery and monitoring on a collection of IP resources within the driver's “scope”. A driver's scope is simply the set of IP subnets for which the driver is responsible for discovering and monitoring. Network administrators generally partition their networks into as many scopes as needed to provide distributed discovery and satisfactory performance.

[0080] Referring back to FIG. 2G, a network discovery engine is a distributed collection of IP drivers that are used to ensure that operations on IP objects by gateways 260, 270, and 280 can scale to a large installation and provide fault-tolerant operation with dynamic start/stop or reconfiguration of each IP driver. The IPOP Service manages discovered IP objects; to do so, the IPOP Service uses a distributed database in order to efficiently service query requests by a gateway to determine routing, identity, or a variety of details about an endpoint. The IPOP Service also services queries by the Topology Service in order to pictorial display a physical network or map them to a logical network, which is a subset of a physical network that is defined programmatically or by an administrator. IPOP fault tolerance is also achieved by distribution of IPOP data and the IPOP Service among many Endpoint ORBS.

[0081] With reference now to FIG. 6, a block diagram illustrating a port firewall system for distributed applications is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Port firewall system 600 includes a PortFirewall database 610, a PortFirewall Manager 608, a Target Endpoint PortFirewall client 604, a source endpoint PortFirewall client 606, a DKS logging subsystem database 612, and an active user by ORB ID database 602. The PortFirewall database 610 stores firewall properties used by the JVM for all users and ORBs. As shown example firewall properties include time interval for firewall, security group defining a group of users who have access to this port, and number of accesses to the port. The PortFirewall Manager 608 is the firewall engine that configures the JVM firewall and starts/stops the clients on EP1 and EP2.

[0082] The persistence storage mechanism for the PortFirewall Manager is the PortFirewall Database 610 in which is stored firewall properties used by the JVM for each endpoint ORBS, applications and users combinations that are defined by the administrator. The target endpoint is the Endpoint for which a user's application is going to use a port resource. This is the location of the usage user application firewall (UUAF) will be enacted in order to protect this resource. A modified JVM will ensure that only those ports as defined for the user, application, and Endpoint combination that are made available on this endpoint. The source Endpoint if the Endpoint ORB on which a user's application is executing and on which the request for a firewall is made. When an application action object (AAO) containing firewall properties is received from the Gateway 300, the Gateway requests the PortFirewall Manager 608 to create a UUAF on the target endpoint. After the address decoding steps are completed as previously described, the AAO is used to route the request to the proper endpoint.

[0083] With reference now to FIG. 7, a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of for an enhanced JVM endpoint client PortFirewall to apply properties to a port is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. This property data can be used to implement adaptive firewalls, where the firewall is to be placed, and what data is to be captures on a port on a JVM basis independent of JVM application and independent of the native OS. Also, a special trusted application can obtain access to a protected firewall, similar to current JVM java.policy file used to secure a JVM which allows only configured class files to be loaded by the JVM.

[0084] To begin, the JVM receives an indication that an application needs a protected port (step 702). The JVM retrieves the port firewall properties (step 704) from the Portfirewall Manager Database 610. The JVM then starts to parse the properties for the port number loop starting with the first port (step 706). The JVM determines whether the port number is the same as the desired port (step 708). If it is not, then default properties are returned (step 718). The default properties are stored in the PortFirewall Database 610 and typically would provide no port access on the endpoint for a user/application combination.

[0085] If the port number is the same as the desired port, then the JVM determines whether the port was configured by the administrator (step 710). If the port was configured by the administrator, then get the customized properties for the port (step 712). If the port was not configured by the administrator, then get the default properties for the port (step 718). After getting the properties for the port, whether the properties are customized or default, the JVM then determines whether there are more ports (step 720).

[0086] With reference now to FIG. 8, pseudocode for illustrating the type of data storage in an object oriented firewall properties is depicted in accordance with the present invention. Times 802, 804 refer to the allowable time for which this port can be accessed. The security group 809 is the group of individuals that have access to this port. The Endpoint scope 811 defines which endpoints can have remote access to this port. It assumes that local access to this port is OK provided the user/application combination is allowed.

[0087] With reference now to FIG. 9, a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process allowing a firewall manager to secure a port for only a single user at a time is depicted in accordance with the present invention. To aid in understanding the present invention, the process is described with reference to configuring a specific port 80 for a specific user Mary. However, the process may be generalized for any port and any user.

[0088] To begin, an administrator's application configures user Mary to have access to port 80, excluding all others (step 902). Later, Mary logs onto EP1 endpoint (step 904). The firewall manager deploys and starts the target endpoint portfirewall client on EP1 (step 906). The application that Mary is executing makes a request for port 80 on EP1 (step 908). In response to the request, the firewall manager gets the ORB ID (step 910) which is a unique identifier of a configure ORB endpoint. The firewall manager then gets the active user on ORB ID from the active user database (step 912). ORB ID is a static numeral determined during installation and a user is determined during runtime when a person logs onto the orb endpoint machine. The firewall manager then determines whether port 80 is available to Mary for the time requested by the application (step 914). If the time is within the time frame that port 80 is dedicated to user Mary, then the firewall manager determines whether the endpoint/application combination that is requesting access to port 80 is allowed (step 916).

[0089] The firewall manager checks the firewall port configuration and finds that it is not configured for Mary, thus an application request or port 80 on behalf of user Mary fails (step 918). The firewall manager then retrieves the JVM firewall configuration for Mary and configures the JVM for Mary's computer (step 920). The JVM returns port 80 to the requesting application and blocks access to port 80 to anyone other than Mary (step 922). The firewall manager then waits for another user to request a port (step 924).

[0090] With reference now to FIG. 10, a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for a firewall manager to observe data passing through a port is depicted in accordance with the present invention. Again, as above, to aid in understanding the present invention, the process is described with reference to observing data through a port 80 by a user Mary. However, once again, the process may be generalized to any port accessed by any user.

[0091] To begin, the firewall manager obtains Mary's configuration data for logging port 80 data (step 1002). The EP2 endpoint is stored as the location for Mary's port 80 data watching (step 1004). The EP1 endpoint (target endpoint) is stored as the target endpoint PortFirewall client (step 1006). The source endpoint PortFirewall client is deployed and started on EP2 (source endpoint) by the firewall manager (step 1008). As Mary logs onto EP1, the target endpoint PortFirewall client is started on EP1 (step 1010).

[0092] As Mary executes an application on EP1 that request port 80 (step 1012). The port firewall manager checks to see that the time at which Mary's application has requested use of port 80 is consistent with the time interval for which port 80 has been assigned to Mary (step 1014). If the time at which the application requests access to port 80 is not within the allowed time interval then Mary's application is denied access to port 80. If the time at which Mary's application requests access to port 80 is within the correct time interval, then the port firewall manager determines whether Mary is part of firewall properties security group (step 1016). If Mary is not part of the firewall properties security group, then the access to port 80 is denied. If May is part of the firewall properties security group, then the portfirewall client allows the JVM to return port 80 to the requesting application (step 1018).

[0093] It is important to note that while the present invention has been described in the context of a fully functioning data processing system, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the processes of the present invention are capable of being distributed in the form of instructions in a computer readable medium and a variety of other forms, regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media actually used to carry out the distribution. Examples of computer readable media include media such as EPROM, ROM, tape, paper, floppy disc, hard disk drive, RAM, and CD-ROMs and transmission-type media, such as digital and analog communications links.

[0094] The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiments were chosen to explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention in order to implement various embodiments with various modifications as might be suited to other contemplated uses.