Introducing reliability and load balancing in mobile IPv6-based networks

With the recent advances in portable devices and wireless networks, a new paradigm of computing has emerged which is known as mobile computing. In general mobile computing can be seen as an integration of portable device and networks that support mobility, providing anytime, anywhere communication. IP mobility allows seamlessly mobility between different access networks and technologies. Mobile IPv6 is an enabling platform for creating IP mobility in the evolution path towards next generation service offerings. However, Mobile IPv6 does not provide reliability and load balancing in the network. In this paper, we introduce “Virtual HA Reliability Protocol”. It is an extension to Mobile IPv6 that introduces reliability and load balancing in the Mobile IPv6 bases networks. It also provides solutions to the problems caused due to Home Agent failures in Mobile IPv6. These problems are: delayed failure detection, service interruption in the upper layer applications, increased workload on the Mobile Node, message overhead over the air interface, and IPsec Security Associations re-establishment. We also present the results of several experiments to assess the performance of our solution. The results show that our solution provides transparent Home Agent failure detection and recovery mechanisms. As a result, there is a significant reduction in message exchange over the air interface. Also, our solution provides high service availability in the upper layer applications. Moreover, there is reduced workload on the Mobile Node. Finally, the load balancing mechanism of our solution provides efficient, dynamic and transparent load balancing among the multiple Home Agents. Thus our solution improves the overall Mobile IPv6 and upper layer applications performance.