3G IMS Illustrated (2nd Level)

DNS
Better Communication
Introduction
Contents
3G Pkt Domain Basics
From Ckt/Pkt To IMS
3G IMS Architecture
3G IMS Operation
Marketing Aspects
References/Quiz

DNS stands for Domain Name Service or Domain Name Server. It is typically used to
return an IP address for a given host name (A record (A stands for Address)). It can be used
also to return addressing information of mail exchange servers as well as SIP servers (MX records
and NAPTR/SRV records respectively).
This addressing information may include transport protocols, port numbers and host names or IP
addresses to be used for contacting the appropriate servers.
A relatively new and interesting type of DNS service is DNS ENUM. This is used for translation of
E.164 phone numbers to SIP URLs, hence enabling PSTN users to call/locate SIP users, using the
old fashion way of addressing (i.e. E.164 phone number). When a PSTN user dials the number
(digits) of a SIP phone user, the call will be routed via the PSTN network to a SIP-PSTN Gateway.
The SIP-PSTN gateway will lookup the SIP URI of the next hop using DNS ENUM lookup .
More specifically, the SIP-PSTN gateway will input the dialed E.164 encoded telephone number
into an initial DNS NAPTR type of search. The appropriate NAPTR record will return the SIP URI
of the called SIP phone. The resulted SIP URI can then serve as an input to a final NAPTR/SRV
DNS search.
Note: throughout the call flows in this eLearning course, DNS servers return the requested
information straight away... However, in reality, it may be a bit more complicated, since the
Internet-wide domain name system is hierarchical. For instance, the host name "sip.ieee.org"
identifies a specific host in the sub domain "ieee" of the top domain "org".
IMS

Abbrev.

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3G IMS Illustrated (2nd Level)

DNS
Better Communication
Introduction

In that case, the DNS server, which represent the top domain "org" is consulted first. It then
forwards the request (assuming it works in a recursive mode) to the DNS server, which represents
the sub domain "ieee", which returns the definitive answer, i.e., the addressing information of the
computer "sip". In many cases efficient caching done by intermediate DNS servers can
significantly simplify this tedious process.

Contents
3G Pkt Domain Basics
From Ckt/Pkt To IMS
3G IMS Architecture
3G IMS Operation
Marketing Aspects
References/Quiz

IMS

Abbrev.

Take-a-break

Back