Method and apparatus for local gateway assignment in wireless networks
View Patent ↗A local gateway assignment capability is depicted and described herein. In a wireless service provider network, the local gateway assignment capability enables a local gateway, rather than a core gateway, to be selected to serve a user request for an APN. The local gateway and core gateway may be a Local-GGSN (L-GGSN) and a GGSN, respectively, where the L-GGSN is associated with an SGSN and provides local traffic offloading for the GGSN and where the GGSN provides a gateway for the core network portion of the wireless service provider network. A DNS element or other device is configured to determine an SGSN-specific APN in response to receiving a DNS Request from an SGSN. A DNS element is configured to identify, using an SGSN-specific APN associated with an SGSN, an L-GGSN associated with the SGSN, and to provide an indication of the L-GGSN to the SGSN from which the DNS Request is received, thereby enabling the user associated with the DNS Request to use the L-GGSN rather than the GGSN.
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a Domain Name Server (DNS) frontend element comprising a processor and a memory communicatively connected to the processor, the processor configured to:
receive an Access Point Name (APN) request from a Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN), wherein the APN request comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the SGSN and a requested APN;
initiate a reverse DNS lookup using the IP address of the SGSN to obtain a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the SGSN;
modify the requested APN, using at least a portion of the FQDN of the SGSN, to form an SGSN-specific APN; and
initiate a request to identify a Local Gateway GPRS Support Node (L-GGSN) associated with the SGSN based on the SGSN-specific APN associated with the SGSN;
a first DNS server configured to receive the reverse DNS lookup including the IP address of the SGSN, identify the FQDN of the SGSN based on the IP address of the SGSN, and propagate the FQDN of the SGSN toward the DNS frontend element; and
a second DNS server configured to receive the request to identify the L-GGSN associated with the SGSN based on the SGSN-specific APN associated with the SGSN, identify the L-GGSN associated with the SGSN based on the SGSN-specific APN associated with the SGSN, and propagate an identifier of the L-GGSN toward the DNS frontend element.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the DNS frontend element is configured to receive the APN request as part of a DNS Request.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the APN request is associated with a User Equipment (UE).
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the DNS frontend element is configured to modify the requested APN to form the SGSN-specific APN by at least one of:
appending at least a portion of the FQDN of the SGSN to the requested APN;
pre-pending at least a portion of the FQDN of the SGSN to the requested APN; and
inserting at least a portion of the FQDN of the SGSN within the requested APN.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the DNS frontend element is configured to modify the requested APN to form the SGSN-specific APN using an entire FQDN of the SGSN.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the DNS frontend element is configured to propagate the identifier of the L-GGSN toward the SGSN.
7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps comprising:
receiving, at a Domain Name Server (DNS) frontend element, an Access Point Name (APN) request from a Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN), wherein the APN request comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the SGSN and a requested APN;
initiating, from the DNS frontend element toward a first DNS server, a reverse DNS lookup using the IP address of the SGSN to obtain a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the SGSN;
receiving, at the first DNS server, the reverse DNS lookup including the IP address of the SGSN;
identifying, at the first DNS server, the FQDN of the SGSN based on the IP address of the SGSN; and
propagating the FQDN of the SGSN from the first DNS server toward the DNS frontend element;
modifying the requested APN at the DNS frontend element, using at least a portion of the FQDN of the SGSN, to form an SGSN-specific APN;
initiating, from the DNS frontend element toward a second DNS server, a request to identify a Local Gateway GPRS Support Node (L-GGSN) associated with the SGSN based on the SGSN-specific APN associated with the SGSN;
receiving, at the second DNS server, the request to identify the L-GGSN associated with the SGSN based on the SGSN-specific APN associated with the SGSN;
identifying, at the second DNS server, the L-GGSN associated with the SGSN based on the SGSN-specific APN associated with the SGSN; and
propagating an identifier of the L-GGSN from the second DNS server toward the DNS frontend element.
8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the APN request is received as part of a DNS Request.
9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the APN request is associated with a User Equipment (UE).
10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein modifying the requested APN to form the SGSN-specific APN comprises at least one of:
appending at least a portion of the FQDN of the SGSN to the requested APN;
pre-pending at least a portion of the FQDN of the SGSN to the requested APN; and
inserting at least a portion of the FQDN of the SGSN within the requested APN.
11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the requested APN is modified to form the SGSN-specific APN using an entire FQDN of the SGSN.
12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , further comprising the step of:
propagating the identifier of the L-GGSN toward the SGSN.
13. A method, comprising:
using at least one processor and at least one memory for:
receiving, at a Domain Name Server (DNS) frontend element, an Access Point Name (APN) request from a Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN), wherein the APN request comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the SGSN and a requested APN;
initiating, from the DNS frontend element toward a first DNS server, a reverse DNS lookup using the IP address of the SGSN to obtain a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the SGSN;
receiving, at the first DNS server, the reverse DNS lookup including the IP address of the SGSN;
identifying, at the first DNS server, the FQDN of the SGSN based on the IP address of the SGSN; and
propagating the FQDN of the SGSN from the first DNS server toward the DNS frontend element;
modifying the requested APN at the DNS frontend element, using at least a portion of the FQDN of the SGSN, to form an SGSN-specific APN;
initiating, from the DNS frontend element toward a second DNS server, a request to identify a Local Gateway GPRS Support Node (L-GGSN) associated with the SGSN based on the SGSN-specific APN associated with the SGSN;
receiving, at the second DNS server, the request to identify the L-GGSN associated with the SGSN based on the SGSN-specific APN associated with the SGSN;
identifying, at the second DNS server, the L-GGSN associated with the SGSN based on the SGSN-specific APN associated with the SGSN; and
propagating an identifier of the L-GGSN from the second DNS server toward the DNS frontend element.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the APN request is received as part of a DNS Request.
15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the APN request is associated with a User Equipment (UE).
16. The method of claim 13 , wherein modifying the requested APN to form the SGSN-specific APN comprises at least one of:
appending at least a portion of the FQDN of the SGSN to the requested APN;
pre-pending at least a portion of the FQDN of the SGSN to the requested APN; and
inserting at least a portion of the FQDN of the SGSN within the requested APN.
17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the requested APN is modified to form the SGSN-specific APN using an entire FQDN of the SGSN.
18. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
propagating the identifier of the L-GGSN toward the SGSN.