Location-based domain name system service discovery

• US 10,044,816 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2017
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Amishav, Yoni, Barkie, Eric J., Dubovsky, Oded, Fletcher, Benjamin L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): McBeth, William C
• Application Number:
  US15/431,881
• Publication Number:
  US 20170155619A1
• Time in Patent Office: 539 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/69 using geographic information, e.g. room number
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5058 Service discovery by the service manager
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for location-based Domain Name System (DNS) service discovery using a central DNS server in which network resources are aggregated by geographic location (e.g., subnets) and defined using DNS service discovery records that are mapped to corresponding geographic locations.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a server machine comprising a memory to store program instructions, and a processor wherein the processor executes the program instructions to instantiate a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, wherein the DHCP server is configured to;

receive a broadcast query from a computing device requesting information to connect to a computer network;

determine a subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

access a database of records that map each subnetwork within the computer network to one or more custom subdomain names, and search the database of records to determine a custom subdomain name that is mapped to the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located; and

send network connectivity information to the computing device, wherein the network connectivity information comprises an IP address assigned to the computing device and the custom subdomain name that is mapped to the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

wherein the computing device is configured to;

submit to a central Domain Name System (DNS) server, the custom subdomain name in a forward DNS lookup query to obtain network service records of computing resources that are associated with the custom subdomain name;

receive one or more network service records from the central DNS server; and

process the one or more received network service records to access one or more computing resources associated with the custom subdomain name; and

wherein the central DNS server maintains custom forward zone records, wherein each custom forward zone record associates at least one custom subdomain name with a list of one or more network service records of computing resources.

2. A system, comprising:

a server machine comprising a memory to store program instructions, and a processor, wherein the processor executes the program instructions to instantiate a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, wherein the DHCP server is configured to;

receive a broadcast query from a computing device requesting information to connect to a computer network;

determine a subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

determine a Machine Access Control (MAC) address of the computing device;

access a database of records that map each subnetwork within the computer network to one or more custom subdomain names, and search the database of records to determine a custom subdomain name that is mapped to the determined MAC address and the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located; and

send network connectivity information to the computing device, wherein the network connectivity information comprises an IP address assigned to the computing device and the custom subdomain name that is mapped to the determined MAC address and the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

wherein the computing device is configured to;

submit to a central Domain Name System (DNS) server, the custom subdomain name in a forward DNS lookup query to obtain network service records of computing resources that are associated with the custom subdomain name;

receive one or more network service records from the central DNS server; and

process the one or more received network service records to access one or more computing resources associated with the custom subdomain name;

wherein the central DNS server maintains custom forward zone records, wherein each custom forward zone record associates at least one custom subdomain name with a list of one or more network service records of computing resources.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the custom subdomain name comprises a user-customized subdomain of a user, which maps to a subset of resource records of computing resources that are of interest to the user within the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located.

4. A system, comprising:

a server machine comprising a memory to store program instructions, and a processor wherein the processor executes the program instructions to instantiate a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, wherein the DHCP server is configured to;

receive a broadcast query from a computing device requesting information to connect to a computer network;

determine a subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

access a database of records that map each subnetwork within the computer network to one or more custom subdomain names, and search the database of records to determine a custom subdomain name that is mapped to the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located; and

send network connectivity information to the computing device, wherein the network connectivity information comprises an IP address assigned to the computing device and the custom subdomain name that is mapped to the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

wherein the computing device is configured to;

generate a forward Domain Name System (DNS) lookup query for network service records, the query comprising the custom subdomain name that is mapped to the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

submit the query to a central DNS server which maintains a database of custom network service records of computing resources that are available in different subnetworks of the computer network and a database of custom forward zone records of the different subnetworks of the computer network, wherein each of the custom network service records comprises a custom, text-type DNS resource record that describes custom attributes of a corresponding computing resource, wherein the custom attributes comprise operating characteristics and capabilities of the corresponding computing resource, and wherein each of the custom forward zone records associates a custom subdomain name of a subnetwork in the computer network with a list of one or more custom network service records of computing resources that are available in the subnetwork of the computer network;

receive a list of one or more custom network service records of computing resources that are available in the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located from the central DNS server in response to said query; and

process the received list of one or more custom network service records to access the one or more computing resources that are available in the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

wherein the central DNS server accesses a custom forward zone record of the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located using the custom subdomain name in the query and retrieves the list of one or more custom network service records of computing resources that are available in the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located.

5. A system, comprising:

a server machine comprising a memory to store program instructions, and a processor, wherein the processor executes the program instructions to instantiate a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, wherein the DHCP server is configured to;

receive a broadcast query from a computing device requesting information to connect to a network;

determine a subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

determine a Machine Access Control (MAC) address of the computing device;

access a database of records that map each subnetwork within the network to one or more custom subdomain names, and search the database of records to determine a custom subdomain name that is mapped to the determined MAC address and the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located; and

send network connectivity information to the computing device, wherein the network connectivity information comprises an IP address assigned to the computing device and the custom subdomain name that is mapped to the determined MAC address and the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

wherein the computing device is configured to;

generate a forward Domain Name System (DNS) lookup query for network service records, the query comprising the custom subdomain name that is mapped to the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

submit the query to a central DNS server which maintains a database of custom network service records of computing resources that are available in different subnetworks of the computer network and a database of custom forward zone records of the different subnetworks of the computer network, wherein each of the custom network service records comprises a custom, text-type DNS resource record that describes custom attributes of a corresponding computing resource, wherein the custom attributes comprise operating characteristics and capabilities of the corresponding computing resource, and wherein each of the custom forward zone records associates a custom subdomain name of a subnetwork in the computer network with a list of one or more custom network service records of computing resources that are available in the subnetwork of the computer network;

receive a list of one or more custom network service records of computing resources that are available in the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located from the central DNS server in response to said query; and

process the received list of one or more custom network service records to access the one or more computing resources that are available in the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

wherein the central DNS server accesses a custom forward zone record of the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located using the custom subdomain name in the query and retrieves the list of one or more custom network service records of computing resources that are available in the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located.

6. A computing device, comprising:

a memory to store program instructions, and

a processor, wherein the processor executes the program instructions to configure the computing device to perform a method which comprises;

sending, by the computing device, a broadcast query to a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, the broadcast query requesting information to connect to a computer network, wherein the DHCP server is configured to (i) determine a subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located, (ii) access a database of records that map each subnetwork within the computer network to one or more custom subdomain names, and (iii) search the database of records to determine a custom subdomain name that is mapped to the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

receiving, by the computing device, network connectivity information from the DHCP server, wherein the network connectivity information comprises an IP address assigned to the computing device and the custom subdomain name that is mapped to the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

generating, by the computing device, a forward Domain Name System (DNS) lookup query for network service records, the query comprising the custom subdomain name that is mapped to the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

submitting, by the computing device, the query to a central DNS server which maintains a database of custom network service records of computing resources that are available in different subnetworks of the computer network and a database of custom forward zone records of the different subnetworks of the computer network, wherein each of the custom network service records comprises a custom, text-type DNS resource record that describes custom attributes of a corresponding computing resource, wherein the custom attributes comprise operating characteristics and capabilities of the corresponding computing resource, and wherein each of the custom forward zone records associates a custom subdomain name of a subnetwork in the computer network with a list of one or more custom network service records of computing resources that are available in the subnetwork of the computer network;

wherein the central DNS server is configured to access a custom forward zone record of the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located using the custom subdomain name in the query and retrieve the list of one or more custom network service records of computing resources that are available in the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located;

receiving, by the computing device, a list of one or more custom network service records of computing resources that are available in the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located from the central DNS server in response to said query; and

processing, by the computing device, the received list of one or more custom network service records to access the one or more computing resources that are available in the determined subnetwork of the computer network in which the computing device is located.