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Diameter Signaling
Sonus Special Edition
by Lawrence C. Miller
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Publishers Acknowledgments
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Project Editor: Carrie A. Johnson
Editorial Manager: Rev Mengle
Acquisitions Editor: Katie Mohr
Business Development Representative:
Sue Blessing
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Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
About This Book......................................................................... 1
Foolish Assumptions.................................................................. 2
Icons Used in This Book............................................................. 2
Beyond the Book......................................................................... 3
Where to Go from Here.............................................................. 3
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iv
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Introduction
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Foolish Assumptions
Its been said that most assumptions have outlived their
uselessness, but well assume a few things nonetheless! We
assume that you work in the telecommunications industry
and have at least a basic understanding of telecommunications terms and concepts. As such, we assume you are a
somewhat technical reader. If these assumptions describe
you, then this book is for you!
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Introduction
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Chapter1
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These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
SS7 CoreEdge Network Architecture: Early deployments used a distributed architecture that included
network (core) and local (edge) STP pairs. These early
deployments continue to be used today. The core STP
pairs provided access to companywide database services, aggregated connectivity to local STPs, and served
as access points to other service providers. The edge
STPs provided SS7 services and connectivity to all end
offices and tandems within a geographical region. All
requests for services that required database intervention
were routed from the edge STPs to the core STPs and
then to the appropriate database.
SS7 Core Network Architecture: Later deployments
are totally centralized and comprised of large core STPs
providing all SS7 connectivity and database services. The
evolution to this network configuration was influenced by
government mandates to implement NP in both the wireline and wireless telecommunications market segments.
The NP service required extremely large and fast databases that could be accessed from every end office in the
network. To accomplish these requirements, a solution
was developed that integrated the database within STP
functionality. The operating companies determined that
a large core STP with an included database was the most
costeffective use of this expensive technology.
The evolution of SS7 deployments outside North America
was quite different due, in part, to the size of the networks,
the starting point of the network, and the design of network
elements.
Typically, the size of the individual international telecommunications networks was much smaller than those in North
America. The international switching equipment vendors
incorporated some STP functionality into each of the network
elements. The network size, coupled with the differences in
switching equipment, facilitated the implementation of an
associated or mesh network.
During the initial international implementation of SS7, network elements were interconnected directly with each other
to create a fully meshed network. As the network continued
to grow with more traffic and more interconnected elements,
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These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
10
LTE/EPC/Diameter Network
The mobile subscribers ever increasing demand for large
volumes of bandwidth is driving the deployment of LTE/EPC/
Diameter networks globally. Subscriber devices, such as
smartphones and tablets with the alwayson applications they
support, are having a huge impact on a mobile operators ability to keep up with bandwidth demands and the associated
signaling requirements.
The Remote Authentication DialIn User Service (RADIUS)
protocol is Diameters direct predecessor. RADIUS provides
centralized authentication, authorization, and accounting
(known as AAA or Triple A services) management for
users who connect and use a network service. Its commonly
used to manage access to networks, virtual private networks
(VPNs), and email.
Diameter was created to replace the RADIUS protocol, and
has better reliability, scalability, security, and flexibility than
RADIUS (you might even say Diameter is twice as good as
RADIUS!). Diameter is the required protocol in 3G and LTE
mobile networks. SCTP (discussed earlier in this chapter) is
the transport protocol for Diameter, due to the reliability and
survivability required in EPC.
The architecture of the LTE/EPC/Diameter network (see
Figure11) defines a large quantity of network elements, each
with its own functionality. Each network element can have
multiple interfaces to other elements based on the procedures and information exchanged.
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11
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12
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Chapter2
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Security
STPs placed on the boundaries between two networks are configured with a feature referred to as Gateway Screening (see
Figure21). These STPs provide firewall security functions and
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Interworking
There are many different SS7 protocol standards written
by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and
American National Standards Institute (ANSI), as well as local
country variants. For this reason, the SS7 STP must support
numerous SS7 variants and provide protocol conversion
between these variants. The STP must convert between these
variants and becomes a critical element when interconnecting
SS7 networks between countries.
SS7 STPs also need to interwork between different layers
within the SS7 stack; for example, Integrated Services Digital
Network User Part (ISUP) and Transaction Capabilities
Application Part (TCAP).
Gateway Accounting
Using Gateway Accounting (GWA), network administrators
can define rule sets based on SS7 message parameters to collect statistical information which may be used for auditing
purposes.
In order to provide auditing, the STP performing GWA needs
to be able to generate statistics in a flexible manner that is
configurable by the operator. Its very common for these
statistics to come in the form of ASCII text files.
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16
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Chapter3
Exploring Diameter
Routing Use Cases
In This Chapter
Interconnecting networks to support roaming
Eliminating complexity with centralized routing
Supporting multiple Home Subscriber Servers (HSS)
Allocating bandwidth with Policy Charging Rules Function (PCRF)
Facilitating roaming between LTE and nonLTE networks
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Topology hiding
There are two key aspects of topology hiding:
Limiting the information that an originator must have
about a destination network in order to send a message,
which is accomplished by basic DEA functionality (much
like Global Title Translation and Network Interfaces in an
SS7 network)
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Diameterlevel screening
in a DEA environment
Most network operators deploy a firewall at their network
perimeter, thereby preventing the outside IP network from
accessing the DSC. This process enables the DSC to focus
on examining Diameter traffic in order to implement routing
and screening at the Diameter level, rather than dealing with
lowerlevel DoS attacks and other security issues. In this configuration, the DEA will allow messages from known adjacent
networks. However, even if traffic from an untrusted network
is sent through a trusted source, such as the IPX provider,
the DSC could reject this traffic. No direct connections from
untrusted networks are allowed, and must instead be made
through the DEA. This forces all external Diameter signaling traffic through the DEA function, and limits the types of
attacks that have to be handled.
Centralized Routing
The architecture of the LTE/EPC network defines a large quantity of network elements, each with its own functionality. Each
network element can have multiple interfaces to other elements, based on the procedures and information exchanged.
Additionally, Diameter is a peertopeer protocol and the
connectionoriented methodologies of the Stream Control
Transmission Protocol (SCTP) significantly increase the complexity, monitoring, and control of this signaling network.
As the network continues to evolve and grow, additional
Diameter peers have to be provisioned in every network element. This is often referred to as the Nsquared problem. The
Diameter peer configuration complexity inherent within this
meshtype network presents a twofold problem:
First, the large task of maintenance and administration of
peer configurations on individual nodes directly affects
the consistency and scalability of the network.
Second, placing the routing responsibility on the individual network elements can degrade the network elements
ability to perform its primary functions.
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PCRF Binding
The Policy Charging Rules Function (PCRF) is becoming
increasingly more critical in managing network operators
resources while balancing the subscribers network data utilization experience. As network operators push to increase
their Annual Revenue per User (ARPU), by offering tiered data
plans and the introduction of Voice over LTE (VoLTE), the
role of the PCRF becomes one of the most critical within the
network.
The PCRF is used for the authorization of a subscribers
bandwidth allocation based on multiple factors, including the
subscribers past usage, the level of service a subscriber has
purchased and the amount of resources currently available in
the network.
When a subscriber establishes an IP/data session (IPCAN)
within the network, a PCRF is assigned to authorize the session and maintain a Quality of Service (QoS) for the session.
IPCAN/PCRF binding ensures the initial PCRF assigned for
the session is responsible for maintaining the rules and
QoS during the life of the session. When multiple PCRFs are
deployed in the network based on either network scalability
requirements or PCRF vendor product architectures, this type
of network topology requires an IPCAN/PCRF binding capability, within the network.
By deploying a DSC including IPCAN/PCRF binding capabilities, multiple PCRFs can be provisioned in the network without having to replicate the binding information in every PCRF.
The flexibility provided by the DSC enables efficient network
design to meet the needs of both operators and subscribers.
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Chapter4
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Traffic Management
Congestion can be divided into incoming and outgoing congestion. Incoming congestion is reflected by growth of the
incoming queue and outgoing congestion by growth of the
outgoing queue.
Flow control can be thought of as a ratelimiter while processing the incoming or outgoing queues. Incoming flow control
limits how quickly messages may be accepted from the peer,
and outgoing flow control limits how quickly messages may
be sent to a peer. If messages are received, processed, or sent
faster than the allowed rate, the corresponding queue grows
and congestion eventually results.
Congestion Management is accomplished by determining
the maximum age for a given type of message along with
the amount of space left on the queue. Congestion is related
to the arrival rate of messages on the queue and the Flow
Control rate of taking messages off the queue.
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MultiProtocol Interworking
As service providers deploy LTE/EPC networks and begin to
offer the enhanced capabilities of LTE/EPC to their subscribers, they must address a new problem that arises when their
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Chapter5
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Subscriber Location
Function (SLF)
When a mobile operator grows very large, it may consider
dividing up its subscriber database to be hosted on different
Home Subscriber Servers (HSS) complexes. This allows the
operator to scale up its HSS infrastructure and have increased
resiliency and redundancy.
If an operator divides up its subscriber database, it needs
a supporting Subscriber Location Function (SLF) to assist
other Diameter elements in figuring out which HSS complex to
contact in order to find a particular subscriber profile.
In its simplest configuration, the SLF will be a set of operator
defined rules in which there is a logical breakdown of how
the subscribers are distributed between HSS complexes, for
example, by ranges of subscriber identifiers or odd/even
phone numbers. In more complex cases, the SLF could have a
database of its own and would perform lookups of subscriber
identifiers and retrieve the proper HSS addresses.
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Chapter6
Defining NFV
NFV focuses on new methods for the deployment and delivery
of telecommunication services over a softwarebased network
infrastructure. This is very similar to the way the information
technology (IT) industry uses virtualization in the data center
and in the cloud. The benefits and objectives of NFV are
Increased network design flexibility
Rapid service innovation
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Exploring Diameter
NFV Use Cases
The use cases discussed in the following sections provide
some examples of NFV in Diameter routing. Additional NFV/
Diameter use cases will continue to be defined as more vendors and service providers move forward with NFV in the LTE
environment.
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Chapter7
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