Virtual private network system and method

Claim 3

The method of claim 1, wherein said establishing further comprises authenticating the identity of the remote client computer.

Claim 4

The method of claim 2, wherein the authentication comprises generating a challenge at the host computer, communicating said challenge to the remote client computer, and receiving a challenge response from the remote client computer.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 further comprising negotiating a session key for communicating between the host and the client.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1, wherein generating the information in the data packet comprises generating a network node identification number for the remote client node.

Claim 7

The method of claim 5, wherein said private access network comprises an AppleTalk communications network.

Claim 8

The method of claim 6, wherein said public access network comprises the Internet.

Claim 9

The method of claim 1, wherein the negotiated parameters include a protocol version.

Claim 10

The method of claim 1, wherein the negotiated parameters include a compression level.

Claim 11

The method of claim 1, wherein the negotiated encryption technique is data encryption standard (DES) encryption.

Claim 12

The method of claim 1, wherein the negotiated encryption technique is a non-data encryption standard (DES) encryption technique.

Claim 13

The method of claim 1, wherein the negotiated parameters include indication of whether to negotiate a session key.

Claim 14

The method of claim 1, wherein said negotiating the communications protocol includes sending a protocol request message from said remote client node to said host node, the protocol request message indicating a set of proposed parameters.

Claim 15

The method of claim 13, wherein the negotiating the communications protocol further includes means for sending a protocol response from said host node to said remote client node, the protocol response message indicating a set of accepted parameters.

Claim 16

A virtual node for a private access network having a private access communications protocol over a public access network having a public access communications protocol, the virtual node being a remote client computer and comprising: means for establishing a secure communications path over the public access network between a host computer connected to the private network and a remote client computer to establish the remote client computer as a virtual node of the private network, the means for establishing including means for negotiating a communications protocol compatible with the private network between the host computer connected to the public access network and the remote client computer, the negotiating including negotiating one or more parameters governing future communications between the remote client computer and the host computer, wherein the negotiated parameters include an encryption technique; means for generating a data packet to be transmitted over the secure communications path, the data packet including data and information about routing the data in the data packet in accordance with the private access communications protocol; means for encrypting said data packet using the negotiated encryption technique; means for encapsulating said encrypted data packet into second data packet having a format compatible with the public access communications protocol; means for transmitting the second data packet over the public access network; means for unpacking the encrypted data packet from said second data packet; and means for decrypting the data packet received from the public access network to route the data packet over the private access network using the information about the private access communications protocol.

Claim 17

A virtual node for a private access network having a private access communications protocol over a public access network having a public access communications protocol, the virtual node being a remote client computer and comprising: means for establishing a secure communications path over the public access network between a host computer connected to the private network and a remote client computer to establish the remote client computer as a virtual node of the private network, the means for establishing including means for negotiating a communications protocol compatible with the private network between the host computer connected to the public access network and the remote client computer, the negotiating including negotiating one or more parameters governing future communications between the remote client computer and the host computer, wherein the negotiated parameters include an encryption technique; means for generating a data packet to be transmitted over the secure communications path, the data packet including data and information about routing the data in the data packet in accordance with the private access communications protocol; means for encrypting said data packet using the negotiated encryption technique; means for encapsulating said encrypted data packet into second data packet having a format compatible with the public access communications protocol; means for transmitting the second data packet over the public access network; means for unpacking the encrypted data packet from said second data packet; and means for decrypting the data packet received from the public access network to route the data packet over the private access network using the information about the private access communications protocol.

Claim 18

The virtual node of claim 15, wherein said establishing means further comprises means for authenticating the identity of the remote client computer.

Claim 19

The virtual node of claim 16, wherein the authentication means comprises means for generating a challenge at the host computer, means for communicating said challenge to the remote client computer, and means for receiving a challenge response from the remote client computer.

Claim 20

The virtual node of claim 15 further comprising negotiating a session key for communicating between the host and the client.

Claim 21

The virtual node of claim 15, wherein said means for generating the information in the data packet comprises means for generating a network node identification number for the remote client node.

Claim 22

The virtual node of claim 19, wherein said private access network comprises an AppleTalk communications network.

Claim 23

The virtual node of claim 20, wherein said public access network comprises the Internet.

Claim 24

The virtual node of claim 15, wherein the negotiated parameters include a protocol version.

Claim 25

The virtual node of claim 15, wherein the negotiated parameters include a compression level.

Claim 26

The virtual node of claim 15, wherein the negotiated encryption technique is data encryption standard (DES) encryption.

Claim 27

The virtual node of claim 15, wherein the negotiated encryption technique is a non-data encryption standard (DES) encryption technique.

Claim 28

The virtual node of claim 15, wherein the negotiated parameters include indication of whether to negotiate a session key.

Claim 29

The virtual node of claim 15, wherein said means for negotiating the communications protocol includes sending a protocol request message from said remote client node to said host node, the protocol request message indicating a set of proposed parameters.

Claim 30

The virtual node of claim 27, wherein said means for negotiating the communications protocol further includes sending a protocol response from said host node to said remote client node, the protocol response message indicating a set of accepted parameters.