This MIB module defines objects that are used to
manage GTP Director Module.
In the GPRS network, the APN is the identifier that
specifies where the user is connecting. The APN
identifies whether the network is a corporate network
or a service provider network. The APN comprises of
two parts, the network id and the operator id.
The Single Access point feature enables the
service provider to add new access-points to the GGSN
without having to provision the HLR. The requests are
sent by the SGSN to the same virtual APN. A virtual
APN is not associated with any actual physical
network. The GGSN processes the request and forwards
the packet to the appropriate access-point that is
specified in the PCO. The Single APN feature is
supported only in Cisco GGSNs.
The purpose of the GTP-Director is to provide a
mechanism for service providers using non-Cisco GGSN
to use the Single APN feature. This would enable the
service providers to add access-point to the network
without having to provision the HLR. This will be
transparent to the SGSN. The mobile user initiates
a connection request to the SGSN. The access-point
name specified in the request is the virtual APN.
The GTP-Director would resolve the access-point name
and forward the request to the appropriate
GGSN (real GGSN).
+==+ +===+ +====+ ==== +===+ +====+ +===+
|MS|--|BSS|--|SGSN|--|PLMN|--|GDM|--|GGSN|--Gi-|PDN|
+==+ +===+ +====+ ==== +===+ +====+ +===+
| |
| | +====+
| |___|GGSN|------Gi
| +====+ |
| |
| +====+ +===+
|_____|GGSN|--Gi-|PDN|
+====+ +===+
The GTP-Director also provides load balancing across
GGSNs. The GTP-Director uses the round-robin
mechanism for providing load balancing. The
Cisco GGSNs may use the GTP-Director, but is not
necessary as they can use IOS-SLB ( Server Load
Balancing ).
Acronyms and terms:
APN Access Point Name
BSS Base Staion Subsystem
GDM GTP Director Module
GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node
Gi Reference point between GPRS and an external
packet data network
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
HLR Home Location Register
NMS Network Management System
PCO Protocol Configuration Options
PDN Packet Data Network
PDP Packet Data Protocol
PLMN Public Land Mobile Network
MS Mobile Station
SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node
TID Tunnel Identifier |