Managing Network Resource Access Using Session Context

An apparatus comprising:

• one or more network ports to send/receive data packets to/from a communication network;
• and
• a processor coupled to the network ports, and configured to:
• receive a connection request from a user device, the apparatus providing a network service to a service area;
• generate a session start request to start a user session in a service domain covering the service area;
• evaluate one or more policy rules to determine whether any rule is applicable to the user device, including determining that an authoritative user session has already been established in the service domain;
• establish the user session in the service domain for the user device;
• associate at least one permission to the user session based on the determination that the authoritative user session has already been established, the at least one permission being for access to a controlled network resource;
• receive a request from the user device to access the controlled network resource;
• and
• grant access to the controlled network resource to the user device based on the at least one permission.

A non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the processor to:

• receive a connection request from a user device, the computing device providing a network service to a service area;
• generate a session start request to start a user session in a service domain covering the service area;
• evaluate one or more policy rules to determine whether any rule is applicable to the user device, including determining that an authoritative user session has already been established in the service domain;
• establish the user session in the service domain for the user device;
• associate at least one permission to the user session based on the determination that the authoritative user session has already been established, the at least one permission being for access to a controlled network resource;
• receive a request from the user device to access the controlled network resource;
• and
• grant access to the controlled network resource to the user device based on the at least one permission.