A Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) is a functional element in a 3G or 4G (such as LTE) network that provides real-time routing capabilities to ensure that messages are routed among the correct elements in a network. The DRA was introduced by the 3GPP to address the increased Diameter signaling traffic and growing complexity of 4G LTE networks.
Super power # 1 - Centralized control of all diameter traffic including load balancing
In a typical LTE network there are several MMEs and several HSS or other nodes that use diameter protocol. Without the DRA all the interconnections become very messy and difficult to handle (not scalable). However with a DRA in place all the diameter connections terminate at the DRA and network management is way easier making it easy to scale the network with growth.
Superpower # 2 - AVP Manipulation
In a typical LTE network there are several diameter nodes that may belong to different network vendors. During integration you are bound to see issue related to IoT where certain nodes expect messages in a given format. With DRA AVP manipulation you can overcome such issues.
Superpower # 3 - Intelligent Routing for LTE roaming and topology hiding
DRA allows routing of diameter traffic for roaming devices based on realm.
Authentication Info Request/Answer
Procedure used by MME to fetch auth vectors for the subscriber
Things to pay attention
- Src and Dst Ports
- Src and Dst IPs
- Origin host and Realm
- Dest host and Realm
- IMSI
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