Patent attributes
A hostname based access configuration system (HNACS) is provided for configuring a host-based firewall to implement firewall policies referencing hostnames. The HNACS defines a hostname based firewall policy (HNFP) referencing a host server using a corresponding hostname instead of an internet protocol (IP) address. The HNACS incorporates the HNFP onto the host-based firewall but renders the HNFP non-implementable on the computing device until a domain name system (DNS) query is generated. If the DNS query includes the hostname in the HNFP, the HNACS determines a mapping between the hostname specified in the DNS query and an IP address corresponding to the hostname (obtained via a DNS response corresponding to the DNS query). Based on the mapping, the HNFP is transformed via an implicit replacement of the hostname in the HNFP with the IP address of the host server, thereby rendering the HNFP executable on the host-based firewall.
