METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIA FOR SUPPORTING MULTIPLE PREFERRED LOCALITIES FOR NETWORK FUNCTION (NF) DISCOVERY AND SELECTION PROCEDURES

A method for supporting multiple locations in a preferred-locality attribute NF discovery and selection includes receiving, from producer NFs, NF registration messages including NF profiles with locality attributes and registering the producer NFs by storing the NF profiles including the locality attributes in an NF registration database local to an NRF. The method further includes receiving, from a requesting NF, an NF discovery request having query parameters for discovering producer NFs, the query parameters including a preferred-locality attribute identifying a plurality of different preferred producer NF locations. The method further includes retrieving NF profiles from the NF registration database having locality attributes that match any of the preferred producer NF locations. The method further includes generating an NF discovery response including the NF profiles retrieved from the NF registration database. The method further includes forwarding the NF discovery response to the requesting NF.