GENERIC PERSISTENCE IN A DIAMETER ROUTING AGENT

• US 20130326001A1
• Filed: 08/08/2013
• Published: 12/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent Canada Incorporated (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Jorgensen, Peter K., MANN, Robert A., VIHTARI, Mikael
• Granted Patent: US 9,432,864 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1407 Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0892 by using authentication-authorization-accounting [AAA] servers or protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1036 Load balancing of requests to servers for services different from user content provisioning, e.g. load balancing across domain name servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic

Abstract

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving a first Diameter message at the DRA; evaluating a first rule, including accessing data from a generic binding context object including: locating a record associated with a key specified by the first rule, and retrieving the data from the record; and transmitting a message based on the evaluation of the first rule. Various embodiments additionally relate to receiving a second Diameter message at the DRA; and evaluating a second rule, including accessing the generic binding context object, including storing the data in the record associated with the key.

Claims

1. A method performed by a Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) for processing a Diameter message, the method comprising:

receiving a first Diameter message at the DRA;

evaluating a first rule, comprising accessing data from a generic binding context object comprising;

locating a record associated with a key specified by the first rule, and

retrieving the data from the record; and

transmitting a message based on the evaluation of the first rule.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, before evaluating the first rule:

receiving a second Diameter message at the DRA; and

evaluating a second rule, comprising accessing the generic binding context object, comprising storing the data in the record associated with the key.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising, after storing the data in the record, transmitting the data to at least one other device for storage in a redundant copy of the record.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein storing the data in the record comprises writing the data to a portion of volatile memory associated with the record.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the key comprises a key label and key data, and

the record is associated with both the key label and the key data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the record comprises a plurality of values and retrieving the data from the record comprises:

locating a value of the plurality of values associated with a value label specified by the first rule, wherein the value includes the value label and value data; and

retrieving the value data from the value.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after transmitting the message:

determining that a timestamp associated with the record indicates that the record is older than a record retention threshold; and

deleting the record based on the record being older than a record retention threshold.

8. A diameter routing agent (DRA) for processing a Diameter message, the DRA comprising:

a network interface;

a volatile memory; and

a processor in communication with the memory, the processor being configured to;

receive a first Diameter message via the network interface;

evaluate a first rule, comprising accessing data from a generic binding context object comprising;

locating a record associated with a key specified by the first rule, and

retrieving the data from the record; and

transmit a message via the network interface based on the evaluation of the first rule.

9. The DRA of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to, before evaluating the first rule:

receive a second Diameter message at the DRA; and

evaluate a second rule, comprising accessing the generic binding context object, comprising storing the data in the record associated with the key.

10. The DRA of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to, after storing the data in the record, transmitting the data to at least one other device for storage in a redundant copy of the record.

11. The DRA of claim 9, wherein, in storing the data in the record, the processor is configured to write the data to a portion of the volatile memory associated with the record.

12. The DRA of claim 8, wherein:

the key comprises a key label and key data, and

the record is associated with both the key label and the key data.

13. The DRA of claim 8, wherein the record comprises a plurality of values and, in retrieving the data from the record, the processor is configured to:

locate a value of the plurality of values associated with a value label specified by the first rule, wherein the value includes the value label and value data;

retrieve the value data from the value.

14. The DRA of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to, after transmitting the message:

determine that a timestamp associated with the record indicates that the record is older than a record retention threshold; and

delete the record based on the record being older than a record retention threshold.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions for execution by a Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) for processing a Diameter message, the medium comprising:

instructions for receiving a first Diameter message at the DRA;

instructions for evaluating a first rule, comprising accessing data from a generic binding context object comprising;

instructions for locating a record associated with a key specified by the first rule, and

instructions for retrieving the data from the record; and

instructions for transmitting a message based on the evaluation of the first rule.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising:

instructions for receiving a second Diameter message at the DRA; and

instructions for evaluating a second rule, comprising accessing the generic binding context object, comprising storing the data in the record associated with the key.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprising instructions for transmitting the data to at least one other device for storage in a redundant copy of the record.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions for storing the data in the record comprise instructions for writing the data to a portion of volatile memory associated with the record.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein:

the key comprises a key label and key data, and

the record is associated with both the key label and the key data.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the record comprises a plurality of values and the instructions for retrieving the data from the record comprise:

instructions for locating a value of the plurality of values associated with a value label specified by the first rule, wherein the value includes the value label and value data;

instructions for retrieving the value data from the value.