Network convergence and the NAT/Firewall problems

Author

Paulsamy, Victor ; Chatterjee, Samir

Author_Institution

Zapex Technol., Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA

fYear

2003

fDate

6-9 Jan. 2003

Abstract

Voice over IP technology is fueling the rapid growth on network convergence and we are seeing the successful deployment of converged networks within enterprises. However, most enterprises today sit behind firewalls and also use private IP addressing behind NATs (network address translators). These NATs and firewalls cause significant problems for multimedia over IP to work and function properly. There are presently two standards for VoIP signaling: H.323 (from ITU-T) and SIP (session initiation protocol from IETF). In this paper we present the details of the problems and issues associated with NATs/firewalls and then survey some ways to solve this problem for SIP. There is no single best solution yet. However, this paper discusses how such a simple and elegant solution can be built. This problem remains a significant obstacle for the successful adoption of convergence as security has become even more important to enterprises than adoption of emerging technologies.

Keywords

IP networks; Internet telephony; authorisation; computer networks; integrated voice/data communication; multimedia communication; telecommunication network management; transport protocols; H.323; IETF; ITU-T; NAT/Firewall problems; SIP; VoIP signaling; interactive multimedia communications; multimedia over IP; network address translators; network convergence; private IP addressing; session initiation protocol; voice over IP technology; Convergence; Information science; Internet telephony; Joining processes; Multimedia communication; Network address translation; Protection; Protocols; Routing; Security;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

System Sciences, 2003. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Hawaii International Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7695-1874-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/HICSS.2003.1174338

Filename

1174338