GR1009900B - Method and device for the remote start-up of devices suppporting the wake-up technology via a local network - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method designed for the remote start-up of devices that support wake-up technology via a local area network as well as to the device implementing this method. The device, referred to as the starter (4), has at least one local network interface (7) through which it communicates with a target device (1) to send a wake-up “packet” via a local network, when the relevant command is received from the client (5). The client (5) and the starter (4) communicate with each other exclusively at the application level of the open systems Interconnection model. The target device (1), the starter (4) and the controller (5) may participate in the same local network (3) or communicate through a wider private or public network (10). The local networks (3) where target devices (1), commands (4) and starters (5) are connected may be located behind firewalls (2).

Description

DESCRIPTION

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REMOTE STARTING OF DEVICES SUPPORTING AWAKENING TECHNOLOGY

VIA LAN

THE FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

The invention refers to the field of electrical engineering and more specifically to the field of electrical communication technique and even more specifically to the transmission of digital information and even more specifically to data switching networks and in general to the interconnection or transfer of signals, commands and files between memories, input/output devices or central processing units. In particular, the invention refers to a method for remotely starting devices that support wake-up technology via a local network, as well as an application device for the method.

THE HISTORY OF THE INVENTION

The method and apparatus disclosed in the present invention for remotely starting devices supporting wake-up technology over a local network have not been disclosed in the prior art.

Nowadays, it is common for someone to need to remotely use an electronic device that processes data and is connected to a local packet-switched network. If the network device is in sleep or power-down state, the device must be booted before use. This is often a problem, as there may not be someone physically present in the space to initiate. A solution to the problem is essentially provided by the wake-up technology through a local network, also known as Wake-On-Lan (WOL). This particular technology provides the possibility of launching a target network device by sending special packets to all stations participating in the same network, at layer 2 (data link layer) of the Open Systems Interconnection reference model, with the target device (e.g. .ethemet local network). Because WOL technology is implemented at the data link layer, it cannot be used by someone on another network, but can access the local network through a complex packet-switched network, such as the Internet. For example, if the target device is a personal computer connected to a local network, on which the user has installed a popular Internet remote access program, the user cannot directly use WOL technology to boot the computer .

Thus, users who want to use device networks by accessing them through complex public or private packet-switched networks take several approaches, one of which is to keep the target devices up and running at all times. In addition, if the target devices have logic to reduce power consumption when not in use and automatically go to sleep, users take special measures to override these power-saving functions. Another approach involves "opening a hole" in the firewall, which protects the local network from attacks, at layers 3 and 4 of the Open Systems Interconnection reference model. Through these "holes", they redirect all incoming magic WOL packets that might be addressed to the local network router, from the external packet-switched network, to the target device's network adapter.

A further option may be the existence of an auxiliary network device, in the same local network as the target device, which is permanently in full operation and may have special software, which performs an outgoing call (connection request) and achieves a permanent connection with a specific server, located on some public or private packet-switched network, to which the local network where the target device and the auxiliary device are located are connected. Thus, when the user wants to boot the target device, he transiently connects to the servers to which the auxiliary device is connected, and through them, instructs the auxiliary device to boot the target device by WOL technology or otherwise. Examples include special programs for remote access that connect to their manufacturer's servers or virtual private network gateways that connect to virtual private network service provider servers. Alternatively, special software may be run by an auxiliary network device, which enables connection to the local network of the target device through a wider public or private packet-switched network to which the local network connects, allowing inbound connection requests originating from the wider network and addressed to on the local network. In order for the device to perform its function, it "opens holes" in the firewall, which protects the local network of the target device from attacks, so that it is possible for the auxiliary device to accept incoming connection requests. In this case, the user connects to the auxiliary device or through it to another network device on the local network of the target device, and then boots the target device using WOL technology or another way. This mode is used when the auxiliary device is a virtual private network gateway, serving incoming requests to connect directly to the local network it serves. Finally, solutions include combinations of the above, as happens for example in complex Network Management Systems.

All the aforementioned solutions, although they fulfill the final purpose, introduce a number of issues, since their disadvantages are quite significant and particularly important from a security point of view. For example, solutions that require a user to be connected to the target local network in any way introduce security issues because if a malicious user can man-in this communication, they will have full or very broad access to the internal network, since it will have gained access to a real connection with at least one device on that network.

In addition, solutions that require inbound connections to the local network, by definition, introduce vulnerabilities for attacks from external networks to the internal. The level of exposure of the internal network ranges from minor to unacceptable, as in the case of "opening holes" in the firewall to redirect incoming magic WOL packets directly to the internal network. Furthermore, solutions that require a permanent, direct connection to external servers expose the internal network to risks, because if the external servers are taken over by malicious users, the malicious users will have access to the internal network. In fact, because said external servers should be specific and publicly known, they are correspondingly permanent, known targets.

In addition to the above security issues, solutions that require an auxiliary network device, which is a regular computer, are expensive in terms of energy and therefore not environmentally friendly. Finally, it should be noted that solutions that require a central controller are vulnerable, in the event of a failure of the central controller, as it is a single point of failure for the entire remote boot system.

Prior art documents are application US2008/0229091 A1, which refers to a remote wake-up device for a computer, US2007/0067445 A1, which refers to a remote computer wake-up method for network applications, and EP2229751 B1, which refers to method and apparatus for waking up a networked device.

It is thus an object of the present invention to advantageously address the above-mentioned disadvantages and shortcomings of the prior art by proposing a method for remotely starting devices that support wake-up technology via a local network, as well as a device for implementing the particular method.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of remotely booting devices, supporting WOL technology, that utilizes communication exclusively at the application layer, i.e. layer 7 of the Open Systems Interconnection reference model, without requiring communication at any of the lower levels between the devices involved in the boot process of a target device.

A further advantage of the present invention is to maintain the security level of a network, without requiring any intervention in it, to facilitate remote booting of target devices.

A further advantage of the invention of the proposed method is the lack of a central point of failure, since there is no central controller, but peer nodes, the more that are added to a domain, the more the availability of domain services increases. This therefore implies high availability, with low cost and low complexity.

A further advantage of the invention is energy saving, because the starter consumes minimal energy and given that no other devices are required to be active, which would consume large amounts of energy, the total amount of energy consumed remains at a minimum.

Another object of the invention is the presentation of a system that can have more than one starter, as a result of which uninterrupted operation is ensured, even in the event of failure of one of them.

Another advantage of the present invention is the fact that to wake up a target device, no incoming connection to the local network of the device from its external networks is required, which would necessarily reduce the security level of the local network of the target device.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent in the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying drawings in which it is illustrated in an illustrative non-limiting manner.

Figures 1(a)-(c) show illustrative variations of the initiator device described in the present invention.

Figure 2 schematically shows a communication system, including the initiator, according to the invention, as well as the target device, in a network protected by a firewall.

Figure 3 shows a schematic illustration of a domain with nodes in local packet switching networks, connected to a wider packet switching network. Among other things, a local network with two initiator nodes, in parallel operation, as well as nodes connected directly to the wider packet switching network, is presented.

Figure 4 shows a schematic illustration of communication between principal and initiator, at the application level, to achieve activation of a target device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the accompanying drawings, we will describe exemplary embodiments of the method of remotely booting devices that support wake-up over a local area network technology. At the same time, a device for the application of this method will be presented.

The object of the invention is to boot a target device (1), Fig. 2, which supports wake-up via local area network technology, connected to a packet-switched local area network that may be protected by a firewall (2), with the help of a processing device information, which executes commands from other devices with which it participates in a peer-to-peer file synchronization network, without a central controller.

The set of devices involved in the boot process of a target device using wake-up over a local network technology constitutes a boot domain. A domain consists of one or more target devices and two or more nodes, of which at least one must be a principal and at least one must be an initiator, as described below.

The target device (1) is an electronic information processing device, such as, but not limited to, a computer, a network printer, a central or peripheral industrial control unit connected to a packet-switched local area network, wired or wireless, and supports wake-up via LAN technology, to boot or restore to full operation from sleep mode.

A node is either an initiator (4) or a principal (5), Fig, 3.

The starter (4) is the device used to implement the remote start method of devices that support wake-up via local network technology. It is an electronic information processing device, with low energy consumption. It has a central processor, a random access memory, a persistent data storage area organized in a file system, one or more interfaces for connecting external devices, such as for example a single serial bus (6), Fig. 1 b, known as USB, one or more switching network interfaces of packets (7), Fig. Ia, which can be wired or wireless. It may additionally have control/programming keys (8), Fig. 1c, and an information display screen (9). The initiator (4) can broadcast magic wake-up packets over a local network, to target devices (1), which are connected to the same packet-switched local network (3) as it. The controller (5) is an electronic information processing device, such as a personal computer, a tablet computer, a mobile phone or an automatic control system central unit, which commands a target device (1) to start, without is necessarily on the same packet-switched local network as the target device (1), nor on the same packet-switched local network as the initiator (4) that will perform the wake-up via local network operation.

According to the implementation of the method, the nodes and the target devices (1) of a domain may be located in the same local network (3), without this being limiting. The nodes of a domain may therefore be connected to different local area networks (3), Fig. 3, which are connected to a wider public or private packet switching network (IP) and a firewall (2) may be inserted between each local area network ( 3) and the wider network (10), where the firewall (2) rejects any incoming connection request to the local network (3) it protects, at levels lower than level 7 of the Open Systems Interconnection reference model. In a different implementation some nodes of a domain may be connected to different local networks (3), which are connected to a wider public or private network (10) and some nodes of the domain, i.e. initiators (4) or principals (5), may are directly connected to the wider public or private network (10).

The nodes of a boot domain, i.e. the initiators (4) and principals (5) are organized into a network of file synchronization peers, without a central controller. The file structure that is synchronized across all nodes in a domain is called the domain bus and can be either hierarchical or flat. Thus, each node in the domain has a local copy of the bus, which is automatically synchronized with all local copies held by the remaining nodes in the domain, as they all participate in the same network of file sync peers, with no central controller.

In an embodiment of the method where the bus is a hierarchical file structure, the bus contains folders (1 1), Fig. 4, each of which supports domain specific functions or stores domain specific information. Each node creates and deletes files on the bus, depending on the operations it performs (e.g. boot command of a remote target device (1), notification that a wake-up command was sent via local network to a specific device, etc). File creations and deletions are forwarded to all other nodes, due to file synchronization without a central controller, thus achieving through the bus, data traffic within the domain, without the use of a central controller controlling the nodes. Each node checks the copy of the bus that exists on its local file system for file creation and deletion events. Monitoring is done, either periodically or in real time, by leveraging subsystems of the node's operating system that provide immediate notification of file system events as they occur. Each node responds to the creation or deletion of a file, depending on the type of file created or deleted and the type of node, i.e. whether it is an initiator (4) or a principal (5).

An exemplary implementation of the method, where the bus consists of only two folders, the command folder where target device boot commands are recorded and the event folder where reports are recorded when a notable event occurs in the domain, is performed as follows. An initiator (5) orders the booting of a target device (1) by placing on the bus and in particular in the command folder, a file containing the MAC address of the target device (1) or other information from which the initiators (4) they can deduce that address. Bootloaders (4) monitor the command folder on the bus, using an appropriate kernel subsystem of their operating system, which upon detecting a file creation, executes device boot software, calling it with a boot parameter the full name of the file created in the command folder. The bootloader reads the contents of the file it accepts as a parameter, and broadcasts to the local network (3) a magic wake-up packet over the local network referring to the MAC address it read or deduced from the file, and finally deletes the file it read, after timeout that ensures that the automatic file synchronization system will have time to synchronize the file on all nodes before it is deleted by the first node that received it.

Assuming that in the example of Fig. 4, principal ENT1 is located in local network D1, protected by firewall TI. The principal in question wants to boot target device T2, located behind firewall T2, on local network D2. In network D2 there is initiator EK1. The target device F2 has a MAC2 address, while the two networks are disconnected from each other and both connect to the Internet. The ENT1 principal creates two files: a file in the commands folder containing the MAC2 address of target device ST2, and a file in the events folder with content describing that a boot command was generated by the ENT1 principal for the device with MAC2 address. The bus is automatically synchronized, so the two files also appear on the local copy of the bus on the EK1 initiator. When initiator EC1's operating system detects the creation of the command file, initiator EC1 reads it and then broadcasts to local network D2 a magic wake-up packet via local network addressed to MAC2, corresponding to target device F2. At the same time, initiator EC1 creates in the event folder a file with content stating that the magic WOL packet was sent by initiator EC1 to MAC2 address. The command file is then deleted from the EK1 launcher. As the bus is automatically synchronized, the event log file created by the EC1 initiator is also copied to the event folder on the local copy of the bus on the ENT1 master, while the command file is deleted from the command folder on the local copy of the bus on the ENT1 master.

As an alternative to using a hierarchical file structure where each folder is associated with a specific function, a flat file structure can be used, where the name of each file specifies its content and how it should be used by the nodes of the domain. In an example flat file structure application, files ending in .com contain startup commands, while files ending in .log contain event logs.

In alternative implementations of the invention it becomes apparent that both the target device (1), as well as the initiators (4) and principals (5) may be connected to the same local packet switching network.

In further alternative implementations of the invention it is possible to send a boot command from devices outside the domain. If, for example, someone wants to issue a boot order from a public computer, they can access a principal, which acts as the domain's gateway to the Internet. The user, which can be a human or even some software, when he wants to send a boot command, authenticates himself to a principal, which acts as an interface gateway, for example by using credentials that might include a username and a code and creates the boot command on it.

In a further alternative implementation of the method, in a local packet switching network (3), where one or more target devices (1) may be located, one or more initiators (4) may be connected. When more than one initiator (4) is connected to the same packet-switched LAN (3), they operate in parallel, performing exactly the same functions, thus increasing domain availability: if one initiator (4) fails, it is certain that the functions will be executed by one of the others.

In yet another alternative implementation of the device, according to the invention, the starter can have suitable connection ports (12) to which any input/output devices can be connected, such as for example a microphone, a camera or an audio output.

It should be noted at this point that the description of the invention was carried out with reference to indicative application examples, to which it is not limited. Therefore, any change or modification in anything related to the shape, dimensions, construction and assembly components, as well as the basic steps of the method, as long as they do not constitute a new inventive step and do not contribute to the technical development of what is already known, are considered included in the purposes and objects of the present invention, as summarized in the following claims.

Claims (7)

1. A method of remotely starting devices supporting wake-up technology over a local network, wherein at least one target device (1) is connected to a packet-switched local network (3), to which at least one initiator (4) is connected, which is organized into automatic file synchronization peer-to-peer network without a central controller with at least one principal (5), characterized in that the principal (5) is instructed to start the target device (1) to all devices with which it is organized in a peer-to-peer network, communicating with them exclusively at layer 7 of the Open Systems Interface reference model by creating a file from which the MAC address of the target device (1) is derived, which is synchronized to the local copies of the auto-synchronized file structure on all peers and from that when an initiator (4) detects the creation of the local copy of said file, a sends a magic wake-up packet (WOL magic packet) over a local network, referring to the MAC address of the target device (1) that identifies the file created by the originator (5), and then deletes that file. 2. A method of remotely starting devices supporting wake-up technology via a local network, according to claim 1, characterized in that the sender (5) is located in the same local data network (3) as the initiator (4). 3. A method of remotely starting devices supporting wake-up technology via a local network, according to claim 1, characterized in that the initiator (4) and the target device (1) are located behind a firewall (2). 4. A method of remotely starting devices supporting wake-up technology via a local network, according to claim 1, characterized in that the principal (5) is located behind a firewall (2). 5. A method of remotely starting devices supporting wake-up technology via a local network, according to claim 1, characterized in that the target device (1), the initiator (4) and the principal (5) are connected to a wider private or public network (10). 6. Device for remote start of devices supporting wake-up via local network technology, defined as the initiator (4), connected to a local data network (3) via a local network interface (7), to which a target device (1) is connected, and which communicates with an information processing device, designated as a principal (5), which is instructed to start up the target device (1), characterized in that it consists of means for sending and receiving files and means for sending magic wake-up packets via a local network that are broadcast on the local network where it is connected. 7. System for remote start of devices supporting wake-up technology via a local network, consisting of at least one initiator (4) and at least one principal (5), characterized in that the initiator (4) and the principal (5) are organized in a peer-to-peer network file synchronization nodes, without a central controller and communicate exclusively at layer 7 of the Open Systems Interconnection reference model.