Method and apparatus for providing host node awareness for multiple NAT64 environments

A host node having connections to a plurality of networks for communicating with a corresponding node, wherein each of the plurality of networks includes a network address translation 64 (NAT64) node, wherein each NAT64 node utilizes a distinct prefix to generate virtual Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) addresses, wherein at least one of the plurality of networks includes a domain name system 64 (DNS64) server, wherein each of the plurality of networks is an IPv6 network, but the corresponding node is an Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) node, the host node comprising:

• a multi-network management module configured to establish connections with the corresponding node to provide communication with the corresponding node for applications of the host node, wherein the multi-network management module is further configured to obtain a virtual IPv6 address for the corresponding node from the DNS64 server, wherein the virtual IPv6 obtained from the DNS64 node includes a prefix that is not specific to any of the NAT64 on the plurality of networks, wherein the multi-network management module is further configured to transfer data to the corresponding node using an IPv6 virtual address formed by replacing the prefix in the virtual IPv6 address obtained from the DNS64 with a prefix corresponding to the NAT64 of the network over which the data is transferred;
• and
• a prefix selection module coupled to the multi-network management module, wherein the prefix selection module is configured to look up the prefix corresponding to the NAT64 of the network identified by the multi-network management module and to return said prefix to the multi-network management module, wherein the prefix selection module performs the look up in a translation binding table,
• whereby the host node is able to maintain connectivity with the corresponding node despite having connections to a plurality of networks that each have NAT64s that utilize distinct prefixes for virtual IPv4 addresses.