Methods, systems, and computer readable media for short and long term policy and charging rules function (PCRF) load balancing

• US 10,027,760 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2015
• Issued: 07/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Renzullo, Jared Michael, Abou-Assali, Tarek, Buehler, Matthew James
• Primary Examiner(s): Gillis, Brian J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lin, Steve
• Application Number:
  US14/720,412
• Publication Number:
  US 20160344817A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,152 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1407 Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/042 comprising distributed management centres cooperatively managing the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

A method for assigning new Diameter sessions to policy and charging rules functions (PCRFs) may be performed at a Diameter routing agent including at least one processor. The method includes receiving input regarding central processing unit (CPU) and session utilization of each of a plurality of PCRFs. The method further includes receiving Diameter message traffic requiring processing by one of the PCRFs. The method further includes identifying, from the Diameter message traffic, traffic for new sessions that have not been assigned to one of the PCRFs. The method further includes assigning the new sessions to the PCRFs based on the input regarding the CPU and session utilizations of the PCRFs. The method further includes routing the received Diameter message traffic for the new sessions to the PCRFs assigned to the new sessions.

Claims

1. A method for assigning new Diameter sessions to policy and charging rules functions (PCRFs), the method comprising:

at a Diameter routing agent including at least one processor;

subscribing, by the Diameter routing agent, to receive input regarding central processing unit (CPU) and session utilization from a plurality of PCRFs;

receiving, by the Diameter routing agent, the input regarding CPU and session utilization of each of the PCRFs, wherein the input regarding CPU utilization is a CPU utilization of each of the PCRFs wherein the input regarding session utilization is a number of sessions being handled by each of the PCRFs divided by a maximum rated session capacity of each of the PCRFs, and wherein each of the PCRFs periodically publishes the input regarding CPU and session utilization to successful subscribers;

receiving Diameter message traffic requiring processing by one of the PCRFs;

identifying, from the Diameter message traffic, traffic for new sessions that have not been assigned to one of the PCRFs;

assigning the new sessions to the PCRFs based on the input regarding the CPU and session utilizations of the PCRFs, wherein assigning the new sessions to the PCRFs includes selecting one of the PCRFs from a pool of PCRFs using load factors computed for the PCRFs and wherein selecting one of the PCRFs includes computing a selection frequency for each of the PCRFs using the load factors; and

routing the received Diameter message traffic for the new sessions to the PCRFs assigned to the new sessions.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising computing the load factors for the PCRFs, wherein each of the load factors weights CPU utilization relative to session utilization.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein receiving the input includes periodically receiving the input from the PCRFs and wherein computing the load factors includes periodically computing the load factors for the PCRFs.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein a relative contribution of the CPU utilization with respect to the session utilization to each of the load factors changes as the CPU utilization changes.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the PCRFs compute the load factors.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the Diameter routing agent computes the load factors.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein computing the selection frequency includes computing the selection frequency as follows:

8. The method of claim 2 wherein computing the load factors includes computing the load factors as follows:

9. A system for assigning new Diameter sessions to policy and charging rules functions (PCRFs), the system comprising:

a Diameter routing agent including at least one processor and for subscribing to receive input regarding central processing unit (CPU) and session utilization from a plurality of PCRFs;

a load balancer implemented by the Diameter routing agent for receiving the input regarding CPU and session utilization of each of the PCRFs, wherein the input regarding CPU utilization is a CPU utilization of each of the PCRFs, wherein the input regarding session utilization is a number of sessions being handled by each of the PCRFs divided by a maximum rated session capacity of each of the PCRFs, and wherein each of the PCRFs periodically publishes the input regarding CPU and session utilization to successful subscribers;

a Diameter routing engine associated with the Diameter routing agent for receiving Diameter message traffic requiring processing by one of the PCRFs and identifying, from the Diameter message traffic, traffic for new sessions that have not been assigned to one of the PCRFs; and

wherein the load balancer assigns the new sessions to the PCRFs based on the input regarding the CPU and session utilizations of the PCRFs, wherein assigning the new sessions to the PCRFs includes selecting one of the PCRFs from a pool of PCRFs using load factors computed for the PCRFs, wherein selecting one of the PCRFs includes computing a selection frequency for each of the PCRFs using the load factors, and wherein the routing engine routes the received Diameter message traffic for the new sessions to the PCRFs assigned to the new sessions.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein assigning the new sessions to the PCRFs includes computing the load factors for the PCRFs, wherein the load factors weight CPU utilization relative to session utilization.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein receiving the input includes periodically receiving the input from the PCRFs and wherein computing the load factors includes periodically computing the load factors for the PCRFs.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein a relative contribution of the CPU utilization with respect to the session utilization to each of the load factors changes as the CPU utilization changes.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein PCRFs compute the load factors.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the load balancer computes the load factors.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the load balancer is configured to compute the selection frequency for each of the PCRFs using the load factors.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the load balancer is configured to compute the selection frequency as follows:

17. The system of claim 10 wherein the load balancer is configured to compute the load factors as follows:

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions that when executed by the processor of a computer control the computer to perform steps comprising:

subscribing, by the Diameter routing agent, to receive input regarding central processing unit (CPU) and session utilization from a plurality of policy and charging rules functions (PCRFs);

receiving, by the Diameter routing agent, the input regarding CPU and session utilization of each of the PCRFs;

receiving Diameter message traffic requiring processing by one of the PCRFs;

identifying, from the Diameter message traffic, traffic for new sessions that have not been assigned to one of the PCRFs;

assigning the new sessions to the PCRFs based on the input regarding the CPU and session utilizations of the PCRFs, wherein the input regarding CPU utilization is a CPU utilization of each of the PCRFs, wherein the input regarding session utilization is a number of sessions being handled by each of the PCRFs divided by a maximum rated session capacity of each of the PCRFs, wherein each of the PCRFs periodically publishes the input regarding CPU and session utilization to successful subscribers, wherein assigning the new sessions to the PCRFs includes selecting one of the PCRFs from a pool of PCRFs using load factors computed for the PCRFs, and wherein selecting one of the PCRFs includes computing a selection frequency for each of the PCRFs using the load factors; and

routing the received Diameter message traffic for the new sessions to the PCRFs assigned to the new sessions.