US 6,982,984 B1
Method and apparatus for virtual private networks
Hamid Asayesh, Fremont, Calif. (US); Gerald Neufeld, Los Altos, Calif. (US); and Rene Tio, Sunnyvale, Calif. (US)
Assigned to Redback Networks Inc., San Jose, Calif. (US)
Filed on Aug. 28, 2001, as Appl. No. 9/941,223.
Int. Cl. H04L 12/56 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 370—401 24 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer implemented method comprising:
in response to a request for establishing a generic routing encapsulation (GRE) tunnel received at a first network element, the first network element determining a set of endpoints for the requested GRE tunnel based on the request;
determining a key, the key corresponding to a virtual private network (VPN);
dynamically establishing the GRE tunnel with the set of endpoints and the key between the first network element and a second network element, the second network element being identified by the set of endpoints; and
processing a set of GRE traffic for the VPN within the established GRE tunnel between the first and second network elements over a network provided by a network provider.