Routing Agent Platform with a 3-Tier Architecture for Diameter Communication Protocol in IP Networks

Abstract

This invention is a system and method for a high-performance Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) platform with a three-tier architecture. The DRA platform consists of a Diameter Connection Router (DCR), a Diameter Load Balancer (DLB), and multiple DRA Instances. DCR is a front-end to all external Peers and distributes Diameter connections to a DLB. DLB is a Diameter transaction load balancer and distributes individual Diameter transaction to a DRA. DRA is a Diameter Routing Agent to implement business logic to determine routing of an incoming request to a destination peer as well as message mediation. A public Internet Protocol (IP) address of the DCR is exposed to the external peers as a single point of contact between the peers and the computer network, wherein an internal topology of the computer network remains hidden from the peers.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention[0001]This invention relates generally to the field of telecommunications networks, specifically to the Diameter Protocol in Internet Protocol (IP) network.[0002]More specifically, it relates to methods and systems of building a high-performance Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) Platform with a 3-tier architecture.2. Brief Description of the Related Art[0003]Diameter protocol in IP network is defined by the following standards: IETF RFC 3588 and RFC 6733. Diameter is a communication protocol widely used in telecommunications for authentication, authorization and accounting. It is adopted by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) as the communication standard for many interfaces for mobile networks, including S6a / S6d, S9, Sh, Cx, Dx, Gx, Gy / Ro, and others.[0004]Diameter may run over Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) transport protocols, which in turn run over IP networks.[0005]Diameter ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is a system for routing messages using the Diameter Protocol in a large-scale deployment. The system includes a front-end module (DCR) that interfaces with external peers, multiple load balancers (DLBs), and multiple DRA instances. The DCR acts as a load balancer and distributes incoming connections to the DLBs, which in turn connect to the DRA instances. The DRA instances handle traffic capacity, while the DLBs handle traffic distribution. The system can handle millions of messages per second and is highly scalable. The DCR performs destination-Network Address Translation (NAT) and source-NAT to ensure efficient routing of messages. The DLBs can detect and remove unavailable DRA instances from the pool of available DRA instances. The system includes a rule-engine that uses attributes of the message, such as Diameter headers, AVPs, and the identity of the source peer, to determine the routing path for a message. The system also includes a network address translation module that uses iptable in the LINUX operating system.

Problems solved by technology

The aggregated traffic capacity from all Peers may well exceed what can be handled by a single instance of DRA application or server.

A TCP / SCTP load balancer that simply routes Diameter requests to a DRA does not ensure the CER / CEA procedure was successfully completed between an external Peer and every DRA.

Moreover, a load balancer may not be able to handle the required capacity.

Having multiple load balancers is not a viable solution because the DRA must expose a single IP to all external Peers so that the internal topology is hidden from external entities.

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