JP2005267016A - Server device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the waste of system resource and the delay in processing. <P>SOLUTION: A RADIUS server 9a receiving RADIUS account request 4 from GGSN6, stores the attribute information as session information by each user in a database, determines the replication address of session information while referring to the configuration file where an IP address of a client and a group of nodes are corresponded to each other, and transmits replica of the session information to the node (WAP-GW) belonging to the determined group (5). When the notice of completion (6) is received from all nodes as objects, RADIUS account response is returned, and then the session is established between a mobile terminal 1 and WAP-GW. The request from the mobile terminal 1 is routed to WAP-GW selected by a rule similar as the configuration file by a load balancer 11. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a server device in a mobile communication system that can be connected to the Internet from a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone.

Conventionally, Internet connection services have been provided in mobile communication systems.
In recent years, a so-called third generation mobile phone service is being introduced. In this third generation mobile communication system, standardization is being advanced so that the same mobile terminal can be used in common all over the world. Standards of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) Is adopted as a common specification (Non-Patent Document 1).
The WAP Forum Ltd., "WAP 2.0 Technical White Paper", [online], (January 18, 2002), [Searched on November 15, 2003], Internet <URL: http: //www.wapforum.org/what /WAPWhite_Paper1.pdf>

In the mobile communication system that provides the Internet connection service as described above, a plurality of nodes such as gateways provided between the mobile communication network and the Internet are provided to distribute and process requests from clients. It is made like that. At this time, each node holds a replica (replica) of user session information (RADIUS session information) so that a client can be specified for each access.
However, in the past, since it was not possible to know which node receives the target request, session information is sent to all nodes so that processing can be performed regardless of which node receives the user request. Was replicated. Therefore, when the number of nodes to be replicated increases, the time required for replication processing and the consumption of system resources increase, causing a problem of service delay.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a server device in a mobile communication system that can avoid waste of system resources and processing delay by suppressing occurrence of useless replication.

In order to achieve the above object, a server apparatus of the present invention is a server apparatus in a mobile communication system that provides an Internet connection service in which processing is distributed by a plurality of nodes, and the nodes are grouped into a plurality of groups. And a means for holding a replica of session information in a node belonging to the selected group of the plurality of groups.
Further, the group to which the node that holds the session information belongs is determined according to the IP address of the client.
Further, the node is a WAP gateway or PPG.

According to the server device of the present invention, since session information is replicated only to necessary nodes without being replicated to all nodes, occurrence of useless replication can be suppressed, and system resources are wasted. And processing delays can be avoided.
In addition, since the group to which session information is replicated for each IP address is determined and the same information is replicated to all the nodes in the group, any node can receive a request from a user within the same group. Even if it is accepted, the session information and the request information can be linked.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of a mobile communication system of the present invention.
In this figure, 1 is a mobile terminal (UE: User Equipment) such as a mobile phone, 2 is a radio base station (BTS: Base Transceiver Station) to which the mobile terminal 1 is connected, and 3 is a plurality of radio base stations 2. Radio base station controller (RNC) to be managed (RNC) 4 is a mobile service switching center (MSC) that performs call connection control and service control of the mobile terminal 1, and 5 is the radio base station control A gateway (SGSN: Serving GPRS Support Node) between the device (RNC) 3 and the core network (packet network), and 6 is a gateway (GGSN: Gateway GPRS Support Node) between the core network (packet network) and the IP network.

7 is a mobile communication system subscriber authentication mechanism (JSR: J-SKY RADIUS) that checks user access authority for each service, and 8 is a terminal that terminates the WAP2.0 protocol from the mobile terminal 1 and uses HTTP (HyperText Transfer). WAP gateway (WAP-GW: WAP-GW) for transferring to the origin server using Protocol) and the WAP standard function by converting the received request into an appropriate format and sending it to the subsequent stage. It is a node (WAP-GW and JSP) having a proxy server (JSP: J-Phone Scheme Proxy) that coordinates with an extended function by a mobile communication carrier.
Further, 9 terminates the RADIUS accounting protocol (RADIUS: Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service, RFC2138) from the GGSN 6, and includes a RADIUS (accounting) server 9a for performing session management and session log generation for each user. , User information necessary for WAP / MMS service subscribers to use services such as web and e-mail, mobile terminal capability information (UE-Profile), etc. are centrally managed, and requests from clients (such as node 8) Information management server (R2M: RADIUS & Repository Manager) that provides necessary information according to the situation, 10 is a node that performs push services such as WAP push and mail delivery (push proxy gateway, PPG: Push Proxy Gateway) It is.

Although only one node (WAP-GW and JSP) 8 is shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of nodes are provided so that the processing can be actually distributed. It is divided into a plurality of groups including one or a plurality of nodes and managed.
The WAP-GW of each node holds session information for each user in order to specify which client the access is from, and a request from the user is made only while the session information is held. Is controlled to become effective. As will be described later, this session information is retained in the WAP-GW by the RADIUS server 9a of the R2M9 replicating the RADIUS session information to the WAP-GW of the node selected based on the client IP address. It is made to be done.
Then, the load balancer 11 routes a request from the user agent to a node belonging to a group determined based on the client IP address. This determination of the routing destination is performed according to the same rule as the selection of the WAP-GW to which the session information is replicated.
Also, a plurality of push proxy gateways (PPG) 10 are provided in the same manner as the node 8 and are divided into a plurality of groups including one or a plurality of PPGs and managed. A PPG group holding a replica of session information is selected based on the IP address of the client, and a routing destination PPG is also selected according to the same rule.
Thus, in the present invention, user session information is replicated only to the WAP-GW or PPG selected based on the IP address of the client.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a directory server (DIR) that centrally manages all subscriber information. This subscriber information is shared between all generations and all regions, and the DIR 12 is the information source of the DRS 13. Reference numeral 13 denotes a directory replica server (DRS) that copies subscriber information locally from the DIR 12 at regular intervals (for example, every minute) and maintains the subscriber information in response to a query request. Provide information. As a result, even when the DIR 12 is in trouble, services (except for order entry) can be continuously provided.
Reference numeral 14 denotes a web gateway (WGW) that is connected to the subsequent stage of the node (WAP-GW and JSP) 8 and mediates a request from a client with the origin server 16. Reference numeral 15 denotes the Internet, to which an origin server (Origin Server: a server in which a specified resource exists or is generated) 16 is connected.

The session information replication process will be described with reference to FIG. 2 showing the main configuration of the mobile communication system.
In this figure, the same components as those in FIG. 8-1, 8-2, 8-3 are groups of the nodes (WAP-GW and JSP) 8 described above. Here, it is assumed that there are three groups, but the number of groups can be arbitrary, and an arbitrary number of nodes can belong to each group.
When an operation such as web access is performed in the mobile terminal 1, an “Activate PDP Context Request” is issued to the SGSN 5 (1), and thereby a “Create PDP Context Request” is sent from the SGSN 5 to the GGSN 6 (2). In this “Create PDP Context Request”, an international identification number (IMSI) assigned to the subscriber of the mobile terminal 1 and a telephone number (MSISDN: Mobile Station ISDN number) of the mobile terminal 1 are attached. .
In response to the “Create PDP Context Request”, the GGSN 6 sends an authentication request “Radius Access Request” to the JSR 7. If the user is successfully authenticated by JSR 7, “Radius Access Accept” indicating successful authentication is returned to the GGSN 6 and the IP address is issued to the mobile terminal 1 (3).
Thereafter, the GGSN 6 sends a RADIUS accounting request “Radius Accounting Request (Accounting-start)” to the RADIUS server 9a in the R2M 9 (4). In the RADIUS accounting request, the issued IP address, MSISDN, IMSI, or the like is included as attribute information.

Upon receipt of this “Radius Accounting Request (Accounting-start)”, the RADIUS server 9a registers the attribute information in the database as session information (RADIUS session information) for each user, and copies (replicas) the session information. Of the nodes (WAP-GW / PPG) that should hold the node (8-1 to 8-3) based on the client IP address. Then, "Radius Accounting Replication" is sent to the nodes belonging to the determined group, and a copy of the RADIUS session information is held (5). In the example shown in the figure, each node (the WAP-GW) belonging to the group 8-1 holds a copy of the session information. Here, the held session information includes at least the IP address, MSISDN, and IMSI assigned to the client (UE).
When the completion notification “Radius Accounting Replication Ack” is received from all the nodes belonging to the group 8-1 (6), “Radius Accounting Response” indicating that the accounting request has been accepted is returned to the GGSN 6 (7). .
Accordingly, the GGSN 6 transmits “Create PDP Context Response” to which the IP address paid out to the client (UE 1) is attached to the SGSN 5, and the SGSN 5 transmits “Activate PDP Context Accept” to the mobile terminal 1. Send to.

Thereafter, “TCP Handshake” for establishing a TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) session is performed between the user agent and the WAP-GW of the node belonging to the determined group 8-1 to establish the TCP session ( Session Connected).
When a TCP session is established, the user agent sends an HTTP request (10) to the node. The node receiving the HTTP request (10) refers to the session information replica stored as described above, and only when the corresponding session information replica exists and the subscriber information matches. Accept HTTP request. Then, an HTTP request (11) is sent to the origin server 16.
When the origin server 16 sends all the contents requested by the HTTP request (11), the TCP session is closed and the TCP session between the node and the origin server 16 is terminated (Session Disconnected).

The node that has acquired the content requested from the mobile terminal 1 refers to the mobile terminal information representing the performance of the mobile terminal 1 that requested the content, and exhibits the performance of the mobile terminal 1 sufficiently based on this mobile terminal information. Content conversion processing is performed so that it can be performed. Next, the node sends “HTTP Res” that returns the converted content to the user agent. The user agent that has received “HTTP Res” displays the acquired content and sends Ack for notifying that the content has been received and “TCP Fin + Ack” for closing the TCP session to the node. The node that has received this returns “TCP Ack”, and the TCP session between the user agent and the node ends.
Next, “Radius Accounting Req (Accounting-stop)” is transmitted from the GGSN 6 in response to a communication termination request for terminating communication from the user agent. Upon receiving this request, the RADIUS server 9 a discards the corresponding RADIUS session information and sends “Radius Accounting Res” to the GGSN 6.
Thereby, the communication between the user agent and the node ends.

Thus, when the HTTP request (10) is transmitted from the user agent of the mobile terminal 1, the HTTP request is routed to the node belonging to the group 8-1 by the load balancer 11, and the node that has received the request Is sent as a proxy to the origin server.
Here, the routing rule by the load balancer 11 is the same as the rule for determining the replication destination in the RADIUS server 9a.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a setting file used to determine a group of nodes (WAP-GW or PPG) that is a replication destination of the session information described above. This setting file is stored in the RADIUS server 9a, but the load balancer 11 also determines the routing destination of the request using the setting file having the same contents. Then, by rewriting this setting file, it is possible to specify and change the replication destination node (group). In addition, the change by rewriting the setting file can be reflected immediately without stopping the system. Furthermore, replication target nodes can be set in duplicate, and a plurality of groups can be designated as replication destinations, and a plurality of client IP address groups can be designated in the same group.

As shown in FIG. 3, the configuration file includes (a) a file indicating a correspondence relationship between an IP address assigned to a mobile terminal and a node (WAP-GW or PPG) group, and (b) a node (WAP-GW). Or a file defining a PPG group. As shown in the figure, the file indicating the correspondence between the IP address and the group in (a) describes the group name of one or more nodes corresponding to each band of the IP address assigned to the mobile terminal, The group definition file in (b) describes the IP address of a node (WAP-GW or PPG) belonging to the group for each group.
The RADIUS server 9a refers to the two configuration files (a) and (b), and uses the IP address of the mobile terminal attached to the “RADIUS Accounting Req (Accounting-start)” as a key. A group of nodes (8-1 to 8-3) to be replicated is determined by referring to the file of a), and then the group definition file of (b) is referenced to select the selected group. The IP address of the node to which it belongs is acquired, and the “RADIUS Accounting Replication” is sent to them.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the RADIUS server 9a when “RADIUS Accounting Req (Accounting-start)” sent from the GGSN 6 is received at the time of session establishment.
The RADIUS server 9a waits for the RADIUS accounting request from the GGSN 6 (S1), and receives "RADIUS Accounting Req (Accounting-start)" (S2), checks the attribute information of the request (S3). If it is NG, the packet is discarded without sending a response to the GGSN 6 (S11). If it is OK, the attribute information of the request is saved as the session information of the user (S4). Then, referring to the setting file shown in FIG. 3, the node (WAP-GW) that routes the IP address of the user is specified, and the session information is replicated (S5). Then, the replication timer is started (S6), and it waits to receive a replication completion notification from the replicated node (S7). When the “RADIUS Accounting Replication Ack” is received from the WAP-GWs of all the target nodes before the replication timer is counted, “RADIUS Accounting Res (Accounting-start)” is transmitted to the GGSN 6. (S12). On the other hand, when the count of the replication timer is completed before receiving completion notifications from all WAP-GWs (S8), retry is performed as many times as specified in advance (S9, S10). If the replication completion notification is not received from all the WAP-GWs even after retrying the designated number of times, the request is discarded without sending a response to the GGSN 6.
As described above, the request from the user is not sent until the replication of the RADIUS session information is completed, so that the session information and the request from the user can be synchronized.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the RADIUS server 9a when “RADIUS Accounting Req (Accounting-stop)” sent from the GGSN 6 at the end of the session is received.
As in the case of FIG. 4, the RADIUS server 9a waits for a RADIUS accounting request from the GGSN 6 (S21) and receives "RADIUS Accounting Req (Accounting-stop)" (S22). The information is checked (S23), and if it is NG, the packet is discarded without sending a response to the GGSN 8 (S26). Further, when the client IP address (Framed-IP-Address) included in the request is already stored in the RADIUS server 9a, it is stored in the RADIUS server 9a using the IP address as a key. After deleting the existing session information (S24), "RADIUS Accounting Res (Accounting-stop)" is transmitted to the GGSN 8 (S25).
As a result, after the RADIUS session ends, all the retained information is discarded.
As described above, the establishment and termination of a RADIUS session for each user is determined by RADIUS Accounting Request (Accounting-start) to (Accounting-stop). Inconsistency does not occur even in abnormal processing such as normal processing and timeout.

In this way, it is possible to ensure that session information exists in a node (WAP-GW) belonging to the group of nodes selected corresponding to the client IP address. Since the same information is replicated to all nodes in the group, any node can accept a request from the user within the same group, and an error will be given to the user due to lack of session information when receiving the request. You will never reply.
Further, the number of nodes to be replicated can be minimized, and an increase in time and traffic required for processing can be suppressed. Therefore, waste of system resources and processing delay can be avoided.

  In the above, replication of session information for WAP-GWs 8-1 to 8-3 has been described. However, session information can also be replicated for PPGs 10-1 to 10-3 in exactly the same manner. That is, a PPG group to which session information is replicated is determined based on the client IP address using a configuration file similar to that shown in FIG. 3, and a copy of the session information is held in the PPG belonging to the determined group. The PPG to be routed may be determined based on the same rule.

It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the Example of the mobile communication system of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the mobile communication system of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the setting file used for selection of the replication destination of session information. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of a RADIUS server when RADIUS Accounting Req (Accounting-start) is received. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of a RADIUS server when RADIUS Accounting Req (Accounting-stop) is received.

Explanation of symbols

  1: mobile terminal (UE), 2: radio base station (BTS), 3: radio base station controller (RNC), 4: mobile communication switching center (MSC), 5: gateway (SGSN), 6: gateway (GGSN) ), 7: Subscriber authentication mechanism (JSR), 8: Node (WAP-GW and JSP), 9: Information management server (R2M), 9a: RADIUS server, 10: Push proxy gateway (PPG), 11: Load balancer, 12: Directory server (DIR), 13: Directory replica server (DRS), 14: Web gateway (WGW), 15: Internet, 16: Origin server

Claims (3)

A server device in a mobile communication system that provides an Internet connection service configured to distribute processing by a plurality of nodes,
A server apparatus comprising: means for dividing the node into a plurality of groups, and causing a node belonging to a selected group of the plurality of groups to hold a replica of session information.   2. The server apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a group to which a node holding the session information belongs is determined according to a client IP address.   The server device according to claim 1, wherein the node is a WAP gateway or a PPG.

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