LOCATION-BASED DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM SERVICE DISCOVERY

• US 20170155619A1
• Filed: 02/14/2017
• Published: 06/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Fletcher, Benjamin L., Amishav, Yoni, Dubovsky, Oded, Barkie, Eric J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,044,816 B2
• Time in Patent Office: 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 DCHP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server, wherein the DCHP server is configured to;

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

determine a subnetwork of the computing device within the network;

access records that map the determined subnetwork of the computing device to a subdomain name; and

send network connectivity information to the computing device, wherein the network connectivity information comprises the subdomain name that is mapped to the determined subnetwork of the computing device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to:

submit to a central DNS (domain name system) server, the subdomain name in a forward DNS lookup query to obtain network service records of computing resources that are associated with the 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 subdomain name.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the DNS server maintains forward zone records, wherein each forward zone record associates at least one subdomain name with a list of one or more network service records of computing resources.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the forward zone records are populated using information based on user-preferences of computing resources.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the DHCP server is further configured to:

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

access records that map the determined subnetwork and the MAC address of the computing device to the subdomain name; and

send network connectivity information to the computing device, wherein the network connectivity information comprises the subdomain name that is mapped to the determined subnetwork and MAC address of the computing device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the DHCP server maintains records that map MAC addresses to corresponding user-customized domains.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a DNS (domain name system) server, wherein the DNS server is configured to:

receive a query from the computing device requesting network service records for computing resources that are associated with the subdomain name;

access a database of DNS records, which comprises network service records of computing resources that are associated with different subdomains of the network, to retrieve one or more network service records associated with the subdomain name that is mapped to the subnetwork in which the computing device is operating; and

return the retrieved network service records to the computing device in response to said query, wherein the retrieved network service records comprise a list of computing resources that are currently associated with the subdomain name that is mapped to the subnetwork in which the computing device is operating.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the retrieved network service records comprise custom network service records that describe custom attributes of the computing resources, wherein the custom attributes describe operating characteristics and capabilities of the computing resources.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the query received by the DNS server comprises a forward DNS lookup query comprising the subdomain name that is mapped to the subnetwork in which the computing device is operating;

wherein the forward DNS lookup query is utilized by the central DNS server to access a forward zone record stored in a DNS forward zone records database, which is associated with the subdomain name; and

wherein the accessed forward zone record comprises a listing of the one or more network service records in the database of DNS records, which are associated with the subdomain name that is mapped to the subnetwork in which the computing device is operating.

10. An article of manufacture comprising a computer readable storage medium comprising program instructions embodied thereon, wherein the program instructions are executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving, by a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server, a broadcast query from a computing device requesting information to connect to a network;

determining, by the DHCP server, a subnetwork of the computing device within the network;

accessing, by the DHCP server, records that map the determined subnetwork of the computing device to a subdomain name; and

sending, by the DHCP server, network connectivity information to the computing device, wherein the network connectivity information comprises the subdomain name that is mapped to the determined subnetwork of the computing device.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 10, further comprising:

determining, by the DHCP server, a MAC (Machine Access Control) address of the computing device;

accessing, by the DHCP server, records that map the determined subnetwork and the MAC address of the computing device to the subdomain name; and

sending, by the DHCP server, network connectivity information to the computing device, wherein the network connectivity information comprises the subdomain name that is mapped to the determined subnetwork and MAC address of the computing device.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein the DHCP server maintains records that map MAC addresses to corresponding user-customized domains.