ICE helps VoIP traverse firewalls

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: NETWORKING TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
08/01/05

Dear security.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* The Interactive Connectivity Establishment helps SIP-based
  VoIP clients successfully traverse firewalls
* Links related to Networking Technology Update
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus:

ICE helps VoIP traverse firewalls

By Michael Ward

One of the biggest benefits of VoIP is the ability to supply
remote workers with cost-effective telecom access anywhere a
broadband connection exists. But ensuring VoIP connectivity
often proves challenging because of the number and variety of
network address translation firewalls that might exist between a
user and a corporate network.

A number of solutions have been proposed to allow SIP-based VoIP
calls to cross firewalls, but each class of NAT firewall
requires a different technique. To further complicate matters,
the various NAT traversal solutions proposed address only one
class of NAT device - as an example, the Simple Traversal of UDP
through NAT (STUN) technique will not work with symmetric NATs,
which are most often deployed in enterprise environments.

The Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE) draft,
developed by the IETF's MMUSIC working group, provides a
framework to unify the various NAT traversal techniques. This
enables SIP-based VoIP clients to successfully traverse the
variety of firewalls that may exist between a remote user and a
network.

ICE defines a standardized method for SIP-enabled clients (or
clients based on other multimedia session protocols) to
determine what type of NAT firewall(s) exist between clients and
determine a set of IP addresses by which clients can establish
contact. Using a number of protocols and network connectivity
mechanisms, such as STUN, Traversal Using Relay NAT (TURN) and
Realm Specific IP (RSIP), ICE learns about the network topology
in which the clients exist and the various sets of network
addresses by which these devices can communicate.

When an ICE-enabled client (the initiator) wishes to communicate
with another device (the responder), it first collects as many
sets of IP addresses as possible from sources such as STUN,
TURN, RSIP and locally configured addresses that can provide
information on addresses where the client can receive IP
traffic. A key benefit that ICE provides is the ability to unify
the information provided by these various sources of IP address
information to create as many paths as possible by which the
endpoints can be reached.

To read more, please go to:
<http://www.networkworld.com/nltechupdate4115>

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2. Cisco, ISS, Michael Lynn and Black Hat sign legal accord
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3. Researcher at center of Cisco router-exploit controversy
speaks out <http://www.networkworld.com/nltechupdate4118>

4. 2005 Salary Survey
<http://www.networkworld.com/nltechupdate3918>

5. Cisco nixes conference session on hacking IOS router code
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_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Michael Ward

Ward is director of product line management for Trinity
Convergence. He can be reached at mward@trinityconvergence.com
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Avocent
Network World Executive Guide: Reviewing Trends and Insights for
SMB Executives

Life is different for IT professionals at small and mid-sized
businesses, which don't have the luxury of hiring legions of
network experts. Read how network executives are keeping a firm
footing on an ever-shifting product landscape. Learn about
trends and insights surrounding VoIP and VPNs; plus get
commentaries from leading experts on storage strategies for
smaller businesses.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=109156
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offer advice to help you gun for that next promotion and fatten
up your paycheck. Click here:
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