Patent ID: 8605656

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a Domain Name Server (DNS) frontend element comprising a processor and a memory communicatively connected to the processor, the processor configured to: receive an Access Point Name (APN) request from a Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN), wherein the APN request comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the SGSN and a requested APN; initiate a reverse DNS lookup using the IP address of the SGSN to obtain a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the SGSN; modify the requested APN, using at least a portion of the FQDN of the SGSN, to form an SGSN-specific APN; and initiate a request to identify a Local Gateway GPRS Support Node (L-GGSN) associated with the SGSN based on the SGSN-specific APN associated with the SGSN; a first DNS server configured to receive the reverse DNS lookup including the IP address of the SGSN, identify the FQDN of the SGSN based on the IP address of the SGSN, and propagate the FQDN of the SGSN toward the DNS frontend element; and a second DNS server configured to receive the request to identify the L-GGSN associated with the SGSN based on the SGSN-specific APN associated with the SGSN, identify the L-GGSN associated with the SGSN based on the SGSN-specific APN associated with the SGSN, and propagate an identifier of the L-GGSN toward the DNS frontend element.