Mobile director

In a Home Agent supporting Mobile IP, a method comprising:

• receiving a registration request from each of a plurality of Mobile Nodes, the registration request specifying a care-of address allocated to the corresponding Mobile Node;
• establishing a binding between each of the plurality of Mobile Nodes and the associated care-of address, each of the plurality of Mobile Nodes having the same Home Address and being supported by the Home Agent, wherein each of the plurality of Mobile Nodes are servers;
• creating a tunnel between the Home Agent and the care-of address for each of the plurality of Mobile Nodes, thereby enabling a server request to be distributed by the Home Agent to one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes via the associated tunnel;
• receiving a server request from a Correspondent Node, the server request being addressed to the Home Address associated with the plurality of Mobile Nodes;
• selecting one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes to service the server request;
• and
• forwarding the server request to a care-of address associated with one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes.

In a Home Agent supporting Mobile IP, a method comprising:

• receiving a registration request from one of a plurality of Mobile Nodes, the registration request specifying a care-of address associated with the corresponding Mobile Node;
• establishing a binding between each of the plurality of Mobile Nodes and the associated care-of address, each of the plurality of Mobile Nodes having the same Home Address and are supported by the Home Agent, wherein each of the plurality of Mobile Nodes are servers;
• creating a tunnel between the Home Agent and the care-of address for the one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes, thereby enabling a server request to be distributed by the Home Agent to the plurality of Mobile Nodes via the associated tunnel such that the server request can be further dispatched to one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes;
• receiving a server request from a Correspondent Node, the server request being addressed to the Home Address associated with the plurality of Mobile Nodes;
• selecting one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes to service the server request;
• and
• forwarding the server request to a care-of address associated with one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes.

In a Home Agent supporting Mobile IP, a method comprising:

• receiving a first registration request from one of a first plurality of Mobile Nodes, the first registration request including a first care-of address associated with the first plurality of Mobile Nodes;
• receiving a second registration request from one of a second plurality of Mobile Nodes, the second registration request including a second care-of address associated with the second plurality of Mobile Nodes;
• receiving a server request from a Correspondent Node, the server request being addressed to a Home Address, wherein the Home Address and the Home Agent are associated with the first plurality of Mobile Nodes and the second plurality of Mobile Nodes, wherein each of the first plurality of Mobile Nodes and the second plurality of Mobile Nodes are servers;
• ascertaining whether to forward the server request to the first plurality of Mobile Nodes or the second plurality of Mobile Nodes;
• and
• forwarding the server request to the first care-of address associated with the first plurality of Mobile Nodes or the second care-of address associated with the second plurality of Mobile Nodes, thereby enabling a Foreign Agent to forward the server request to one of the first plurality of Mobile Nodes or one of the second plurality of Mobile Nodes.

In a Foreign Agent, a method of dispatching a server request, comprising:

• receiving a server request from a Home Agent, the server request being addressed to a Home Address, wherein the Home Address and the Home Agent are associated with each of a plurality of Mobile Nodes in a cluster of Mobile Nodes having the same care-of address, wherein each of the plurality of Mobile Nodes are servers;
• selecting one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes in the cluster of Mobile Nodes;
• and
• forwarding the server request to the selected one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes.

A computer-readable medium storing thereon computer readable instructions for processing a registration request in a Foreign Agent supporting Mobile IP, comprising:

• instructions for allocating a care-of address to a Mobile Node from which a registration request has been received, wherein the care-of address is assigned to a plurality of Mobile Nodes including the Mobile Node and wherein each of the plurality of Mobile Nodes are servers, wherein each of the plurality of Mobile Nodes share the same Home Address and are supported by the same Home Agent;
• instructions for forwarding the registration request including the allocated care-of address to a Home Agent associated with the Mobile Node;
• instructions for receiving a server request addressed to the care-of address;
• instructions for selecting one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes associated with the care-of address to service the server request;
• and
• instructions for forwarding the server request to one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes.

A Foreign Agent supporting Mobile IP, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory, at least one of the processor or the memory being adapted for;
• receiving a registration request from a Mobile Node;
• allocating a care-of address to the Mobile Node;
• forwarding the registration request including the allocated care-of address to a Home Agent associated with the Mobile Node, wherein the care-of address is assigned to a plurality of Mobile Nodes including the Mobile Node and wherein each of the plurality of Mobile Nodes are servers, wherein each of the plurality of Mobile Nodes share the same Home Address and the same Home Agent;
• receiving a server request addressed to the care-of address;
• selecting one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes associated with the care-of address to service the server request;
• and
• forwarding the server request to one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes.

A network device supporting Mobile IP, comprising:

• means for receiving a registration request from a Mobile Node;
• means for allocating a care-of address to the Mobile Node;
• means for forwarding the registration request including the allocated care-of address to a Home Agent associated with the Mobile Node, wherein the care-of address is assigned to a plurality of Mobile Nodes including the Mobile Node and wherein each of the plurality of Mobile Nodes are servers, wherein each of the plurality of Mobile Nodes share the same Home Address and the same Home Agent;
• means for receiving a server request addressed to the care-of address:
• means for selecting one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes associated with the care-of address to service the server request;
• and
• means for forwarding the server request to one of the plurality of Mobile Nodes.