Signaling transport protocol extensions for load balancing and server pool support

摘要

To achieve an improved support for introduction of server pools in packet networks and further to achieve transparency for applications the present invention provides a communication apparatus running a protocol stack implementation for interworking between a signaling source node and a signaling target node. The communication apparatus comprises a first protocol implementation unit (SCTP) adapted to run a signaling control layer on top of a packet transfer network (IP) for exchange of signaling messages via at least one signaling association. Further, the communication apparatus comprises a second protocol implementation unit (SUA, M3UA) adapted to run a user adaptation layer on top of the signaling control layer (SCTP) for support of signaling connection control services (RANAP) used by the signaling source node. A name mapping unit is adapted to receive a signaling target node name from the signaling source node and to map the signaling target node name into a peer signaling association.