Friday, March 20, 2009

Visitor location register (VLR)


[edit] Visitor location register (VLR)

[edit] Description
The visitor location register is a temporary database of the subscribers who have roamed into the particular area which it serves. Each base station in the network is served by exactly one VLR, hence a subscriber cannot be present in more than one VLR at a time.
The data stored in the VLR has either been received from the HLR, or collected from the MS. In practice, for performance reasons, most vendors integrate the VLR directly to the V-MSC and, where this is not done, the VLR is very tightly linked with the MSC via a proprietary interface.
Data stored include:
IMSI (the subscriber's identity number).
Authentication data.
MSISDN (the subscriber's phone number).
GSM services that the subscriber is allowed to access.
access point (GPRS) subscribed.
The HLR address of the subscriber.

[edit] Other GSM core network elements connected to the VLR
The VLR connects to the following elements:
The V-MSC to pass needed data for its procedures; e.g., authentication or call setup.
The HLR to request data for mobile phones attached to its serving area.
Other VLRs to transfer temporary data concerning the mobile when they roam into new VLR areas. For example, the temporal mobile subscriber identity (TMSI).

[edit] Procedures implemented
The primary functions of the VLR are:
To inform the HLR that a subscriber has arrived in the particular area covered by the VLR.
To track where the subscriber is within the VLR area (location area) when no call is ongoing.
To allow or disallow which services the subscriber may use.
To allocate roaming numbers during the processing of incoming calls.
To purge the subscriber record if a subscriber becomes inactive whilst in the area of a VLR. The VLR deletes the subscriber's data after a fixed time period of inactivity and informs the HLR (e.g., when the phone has been switched off and left off or when the subscriber has moved to an area with no coverage for a long time).
To delete the subscriber record when a subscriber explicitly moves to another, as instructed by the HLR.

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