Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
This is the HTML version of the file http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf. Google automatically generates
HTML versions of documents as we crawl the web.
Tip: To quickly find your search term on this page, press Ctrl+F or ⌘-F (Mac) and use the find bar.
Page 1
CHAPTERS
1. INTRODUCTION 3
2. OPERATOR BENEFITS 3
5. TERMINOLOGY 3
6. REFERENCES 3
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 1/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 2
Content
1. INTRODUCTION 3
1.2. General 3
1.3. Description 3
2. OPERATOR BENEFITS 3
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 2/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 3
4.2.8. Archiving 3
4.2.9. TT-file transfer validation 3
4.2.10. Alternative media 3
4.2.11. Recovery procedures 3
4.2.12. High Availability solutions 3
4.4. Processing 3
4.4.1. Decoding and encoding 3
4.4.2. Compression 3
4.4.3. Filtering 3
4.4.4. Formatting 3
4.4.5. Consolidation 3
4.4.6. Look-up tables 3
4.4.7. Rating 3
5. TERMINOLOGY 3
6. REFERENCES 3
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 3/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 4
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 4/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 5
1. INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this document is to give an overall view of the features in Billing
Gateway (BGw) R9.1. BGw R9.1 consists of the following applications:
1.2. General
Intensive competition
The telecommunication market across the world is characterised by
deregulation resulting in intensive competition between operators as well as
service providers. Operators are competing with each other in order to gain a
larger subscriber-base , as well as higher usage of their communication
network. To cope with the competition, operators strive to attract new
customers by offering differentiated services. This basically means, when
competing the operators have to provide services to subscribers that are more
attractive than the competitors. Service usage is chargeable, and this forms
an important source of income for operators.
Charging mechanism
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 5/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Within telecommunication networks there are built-in mechanisms that allow
measuring, as well as, collection of charging related information. Whenever a
subscriber is making use of the telecommunication network, for example by
making a telephone call, the network will generate one or several Call Detail
Records (CDRs). The CDRs are used to keep track of the subscriber’s usage
of the telecommunication network.
Page 6
This introduces a demand of having the possibility to use the transferred data
for subscriber analysis and accounting in order to avoid losing customers to
other providers. Operators with service providers, content providers, access
providers and so on, will also need to search for new media to get their
margins. One way can be to analyse the subscriber data and actions in such
a detailed way that you can have the answer to questions like:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 6/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
If operators can find these answers, the information could be used to provide
subcontractors with important information about user preferences and
perceived quality.
In UMTS the Mediator handles the off-line interface to the charging network. It
will also provide an interface to the Charging Control Node (CCN, which
handles the on-line interface), and work as a back up for this node. The
interface will be based on a subset of Diameter.
Datacom and IP
A wide range of new services on the Internet such as IP-telephony, streaming
media, video conferencing, application hosting and other services, places new
demands on the mediation systems. A probable development is also the wide
acceptance of the Internet Protocol Detailed Record (IPDR) initiative. In some
cases the mediation system will be responsible for the creation of the IPDRs,
as some network elements will not be able to create a complete IPDR.
Page 7
• Storage systems
• Interconnect systems
Customer
administration
NE
NE Fraud Analysis
NE
Mediator
Billing system
NE
NE Other
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 7/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
NE
Page 8
1.3. Description
The Ericsson Mediator is a flexible, yet very powerful billing mediation device
that assists operators in managing charging related information. The Mediator
provides a central point for collection, processing as well as distribution of
charging information. Typically the Mediator is placed between the operators’
communication network and the business support network. The overall aim of
the Mediator is to support quick and smooth introduction of services into the
communication network by providing a "single point", flexible interface for
charging related information.
The CDRs, Usage Detail Records (UDRs, that is logs and event records from
IP nodes that can be used in the Mediator to produce “real” CDRs to send
out), and other usage records can be considered as a primitive form of
revenues that, by refining, result in actual revenues. The collection and
distribution of charging data for either charging or accounting are fundamental
functions for an operator’s revenue flow. Furthermore, by facilitating an
intelligent mediation solution, the Mediator allows a high level of refining of the
charging and accounting data.
Mediator is an integrated part of the Ericsson Charging System for real time or
near real time charging, and accounting data handling, but also provides
flexible tools for all charging data management and data manipulation. The
Mediator also provides an Application Programming Interfaces (API) for data
retrieval and distribution to accommodate instant adaptation to new
communication protocols and formats. This API called Software Development
Kit (SDK) is an optional application. The SDK can be used to implement
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 8/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
supplier proprietary interfaces that would not be supported as standard.
Page 9
2. Operator Benefits
• By enabling shorter lead-times for the operator’s revenue flow (for example
the CDRs). Thereby, the Mediator contributes in minimising the amount,
as well as time, for un-credited settlements.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 9/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
• One product supporting both circuit switched and packet switched data.
The Mediator supports Wireline, Mobile, Data communication, and IP
networks and the convergence between these.
• The Mediator supports current network technology like GSM and GPRS,
but do also offer a simple migration path to new network technology like
UMTS and IP based networks.
• The Mediator can handle scenarios when network elements are loaded
with software in different revision state, for example when a new SW
release is about to be rolled out in a large network.
Page 10
• The Mediator is suitable for multi-vendor networks. Since it in the future will
be even more common with equipment from many different vendors the
Mediator will provide easy adaptations to multi-vendor support. For
example:
• The Java based GUI offers a high level of flexibility when it comes to
configuring the Mediator. In the R9.1 release of the Mediator several new
parameters for tuning the system are introduced thanks to the new
architecture (see chapter 3.1).
• To make the configuration of the nodes in the processing flow even more
user-friendly, syntax highlighting is introduced in the text-editor areas of the
nodes. Together with the search and replace functions this offers a
flexible, and graspable way of configuring the BGw processing flows.
Page 11
• The Mediator has a flexible support for new communication protocols, data
formats and the possibility to create CDRs from new types of input data.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 11/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 12
In the R9.1 release of the Mediator the system is broken down into multiple
processes, which will improve the scalability. Each of the components
collection, processing, and distribution can have multiple processes and
threads. This offers a very flexible system. In Figure 2, an architecture
overview for the Mediator is shown. All the components, and the configurable
parameters of interest in each component, in the figure will be described in the
coming chapters.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 12/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Process
GUI Job Manager
Manager
Log Manager
Log DB
External
Collection Processing Distribution
Collector
Component Component Component
Control Flow:
CDR Flow:
Page 13
Within the Mediator, the processing of files from one Network Element (NE)
proceeds independently from the processing from other NEs (with the
exception for the consolidation feature). Because of the many-to-many
relationship between the NEs, and the post processing systems, these may
not be handled in the same process, but must be treated separately.
Because of the independence between the processing from each different NE,
potentially, all processing from the same NE could be handled, and isolated,
as a separate process. A more flexible solution is however to group several
NEs in a so-called NE group (the same thing apply to the post processing
systems, that is, a post processing system group).
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 13/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
This grouping feature means that the user is offered a very flexible system
with full control from the configuration (through the GUI) of the performance
trade offs associated with multiple process operations.
This means that the user for each group has the following spectrum:
2. An NE group is created for each NE, and one process is assigned to each
group.
The first alternative is the alternative most similar to how earlier versions of the
Mediator looked like. In the second alternative every NE has its own dedicated
process, which might seem very good. However, this configuration would
require a huge amount of system resources in a large configuration.
For both the NE groups, and the post processing system groups, there is a
process separation between the collection and distribution respectively, and
the processing. This means that in an architecture overview (see Figure 2)
these three processes can be presented as different components.
Page 14
1. One process that collects the charging data from the NEs, and writes it to
the inbuffer in the Mediator. This component is called a collection
component. Each collection component contains one or several collectors,
which implement the NE data collection feature. That is, receiving or
fetching charging data from the NE, and placing the resulting CDRs in files
in the inbuffer.
2. One process that reads files from the inbuffer, processes it, and writes the
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 14/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
resulting file to the outbuffer. This component is called a processing
component. Each processing component contains one or several
processing flows, which implement the CDR processing feature. That is,
taking CDRs from the files in the inbuffer, and writing CDRs into files in the
outbuffer.
3. Finally, one process that reads the processed file from the outbuffer, and
transmits the file to the post processing system. This component is called
a distribution component. Each distribution component will contain one or
several distributors, which implement the post processing system data
distribution feature. That is, sending data to the post processing system
from the outbuffer.
By allowing the hot CDRs to be sent in the messages between the different
processes, these CDRs never need to be written to disk, nor read from disk.
This means an unbuffered solution similar to the one in earlier releases is
reached. Besides hot CDRs are given priority for both processing, and
distribution. That is, hot CDRs are allowed to jump ahead of the queue, in front
of possible, big, cold files.
Page 15
The tight connection between the (internal) collection components and the
processing components means that the same number of processes are
allocated for these two components. The number of processes for the
processing component are configured through separate parameter in each NE
group. For the distribution components the number of processes are
configured through a separate parameter in each post processing system
group.
It is important to remember that NEs and post processing systems will never
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 15/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
be duplicated. For example, in an NE group including two NEs, there will never
be possible to assign more than two processes. If more processes are
assigned, these processes will never be possible to take advantage from.
For creating, monitoring, and removing all the processes within the Mediator
system, there is a separate process called process manager. The process
manager has only one client, the job manager, and uses this process to
control all the other component processes.
There is also a separate process for writing log files, and log database tables
from the other component processes. This process is called log manager. It is
no longer practical to have all the other processes writing to the same log file,
or table. The log manager provides the needed serialization of the log writing
functions. It also isolates the other components from problems with the
database system, and loads introduced by log queries from the GUI.
Page 16
Alarm GUI
3
4
Mediator
1 2
5 Post
processing
NEs systems
Database
The Mediator collects CDRs from different types of network elements, for
example switches, voice-mail systems, datacom nodes, IP routers, and
intelligent peripherals. Mediator can collect CDRs using either Ericsson
proprietary protocols, or standard protocols.
The communication can either be initiated from the network elements, or from
the Mediator. In the first case, the Mediator acts as a responder, and in the
second, the Mediator is an initiator. For all the file-based protocols in the
Mediator where initiated collection (polling) is supported (FTP, FTAM, SFI,
Disk), it is possible to collect all files available from the NE during one polling
interval, and not only one by one.
Page 17
The following protocols are used in the interface between the network
elements like MSC switches, S-GSN, G-GSN, APG 40 and Charging Control
Node (CCN) for near real time billing, and the Mediator for collection of
charging related information.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 17/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
3.2.1.1. File based collection
The following protocols are supported for file-based collection of CDRs from
NEs:
• Database NE.
Mediator acts as initiator.
Page 18
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 18/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Communication daemon
The communication daemon is an external process itself, running
independently of the Mediator. It has two ways of communicating:
• With an NE in IP networks.
The solution for the daemon is aimed to become generic, so that it would be
reusable for various kinds of protocols, which are not a part of the Mediator
core structure. In the Mediator the Radius, and the SNMP implementations are
based on the communication daemon, but are run in separate processes.
The daemon provides the abstract interface of requesting, and receiving the
data from the NE. It also implements the unified way of the data transfer to the
Mediator NE nodes.
For detailed information about the CCI-RPC interface, and the two different
versions, see Ref 2.
Page 19
Auth. Server
Auth.
messages DB
3 2
4 Lookup
1
Auth. (MSISDN –
Client IP no)
Radius Daemon
4
(Acc Server, Mediator Acc.
Auth. Proxy) Server
5…
Acc. TCP/IP
Client
Acc. files
6…
6…
Acc.
messages Disk
5. When the authentication is finished, the user can start to use the
application. This means that the START Radius accounting
messages is sent from the accounting client.
Page 20
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 20/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
How many messages that should be stored in a file before available to the
Mediator is configurable in the GUI.
The Radius daemon is up and receiving messages also when the Mediator
is not running. Mediator collects the data from the external collector.
• Cisco NetFlow.
NetFlow is a proprietary interface built by Cisco, but is also used by other
vendors’ IP routers.
The Mediator provides an interface for collection of NetFlow datagrams
(statistics). An external collector is used. The collector stores the data from
the various routers in files. As soon as enough data has been collected in a
file, the NetFlow collector stores a copy of the file in a temporary directory.
The Mediator can then collect the files from the temporary directory using
BGw-RPC, or CCI-RPC initiated FTP. After collection the temporary file is
deleted.
Page 21
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 21/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Based on this fact the Mediator support for large networks is improved in the
R9.1 release to fulfill the operator’s requirements and needs.
One of the limiting factors for supporting large networks is the number of file
descriptors available for one specific process, mainly in some of the third party
libraries used in the Mediator. These third party libraries are, for example, used
in the Mediator collection process. In the Mediator where it is possible to split
the configuration over multiple processes, the limiting factor for large networks
is minimized.
It is also possible to update which sub NEs should be included in the Multi NE
through a Multi NE configuration file. This file can be updated either at
configured time intervals, or manually at user intervention through pressing the
update button in the GUI. If the Multi NE node is active when it is time to update
the node, it needs to be stopped. Both the stopping and re-start of the node is
an automatic process.
The new multi process architecture developed for the Mediator, in combination
with the improved Multi NE feature for the configuration view results in good
support for large network.
The Mediator should work with larger files, rather than small files to achieve an
optimal performance. As the event, and entry-based protocols, which collect
charging data in as small entities as single CDRs instead for files are
introduced, this implies a limitation for the processing capacity. To improve the
internal processing capacity the event, and entry based protocols described
below support merging of the incoming charging data into larger entities.
How many entries that will be concatenated in each file is configurable based
on the number of entries, or CDRs.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 22/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 22
The protocols, which support merging within the Mediator, are the following:
• GTP’
• CCN Diameter
The Mediator also indirectly supports merging for protocols based on the
communication daemon, that is:
• Radius (accounting)
The Mediator supports the following file based protocols for distribution of
CDRs to post processing systems:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 23/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 23
With the R9.1 release of the Mediator files can be distributed based on the
following criteria:
• Time basis.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 24/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
3/1551-ANE 402 02 Rev A 2001-11-19 © Ericsson. Commercial in Confidence
Page 24
The time basis alternative means that at configurable time intervals all data
that have been processed will be distributed. Both the splitting, and merging
features are available in the Mediator for the protocols described below:
• FTP
• FTAM
• Disk
• CCN Diameter
• Radius (accounting)
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 25/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 25
In the GUI the different nodes added in the configuration can be monitored.
Depending on the status of the nodes in a configuration, they have different
colours, which makes it easy to get an overview of the network. The colour
settings are configurable, and can for example be:
Three different views can be accessed in the GUI, the configuration view, the
supervision view and the server view. Which views and windows that can be
accessed depend on the authority of the logged in user.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 26/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 26
The server view is the first view the user comes to when starting the GUI. In
this view the user logs in on one, or several Mediator servers. All the servers
connected to the GUI are monitored in this view. It is possible to see whether
the servers are active or not. It is also in this view that the servers settings are
configured.
The optional application SDK introduces the possibility for to add new
decoders, encoders, and communication protocols (see chapter 4.1.1 for
more information). This application makes the Mediator even more flexible and
valuable.
Version handling
Mediator has version handling of configurations. Each time a configuration is
stored the user can add information about changes in the configuration, the
date and time are stored automatically. The maximum number of the same
configuration is 20. It is possible to override the version handling.
The Supervision view in the Mediator GUI makes it possible for the user to
monitor the data-flow through the Mediator, inspect logs, handle alarms, or
start and stop a specific node in the configuration or the whole configuration.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 27/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 27
The Oracle database interface is a mandatory part of the R9.1 release of the
Mediator. The Oracle database can either be placed on the same hardware
server as the Mediator or be placed on a separate, external one. The Interface
to the database allows the Mediator to perform flexible and powerful
processing operations on the charging related data.
Another possible use of the Oracle database is the look-up tables. Generally,
database accesses are slower compared to corresponding actions in RAM,
but the database has the capacity to be used in order to carry out more
advanced features requiring complex operations on the CDRs. One example
is look-up tables including large amounts of data.
In the Mediator it is possible to both send data to the database (database post
processing system), but also collect data from a database NE. The database
NE makes it possible to re-insert the CDRs distributed by a database post
processing system, into the processing flow for re-processing.
3.2.5.1. Back up
The Oracle database offers several back up alternatives. Since the database
has to be up and running all the time, downtime for back up is not allowed.
This means that the back up has to be performed while the database is up and
running. Based on these criteria there is only one alternative back up method
available, the so-called logical inconsistent back up. This back up alternative
copy redo logs to disk. The redo logs makes it possible to recover the
database to any specified time.
3.2.5.2. Recovery
A recovery is needed if the database for any reason has crashed, or been
cleared. The recovery is made based on the redo logs stored on disk from the
back up function. When making a recovery of the database, it is possible to
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 28/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
choose if a complete, or an in-complete recovery should be performed.
The complete recovery means that the latest recovery, using all the redo logs,
will be used. The alternative is an in-complete recovery using just some of the
redo logs.
Page 28
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 29/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 29
The SDP nodes in a PPS provide the Mediator with the pre-paid subscriber-
base (MSISDN numbers). This data is used for generating a look-up table in
the Mediator. The look-up table is used for filtering a copy of the pre-paid
CDRs to the SDP in the PPS, and post-paid CDRs through the normal
processing flow.
The SDP sends back a rated CDR to the Mediator. This CDR can be sent to a
post processing system, or statistic system of any kind.
The Mediator is also a part of future charging system for near real time
charging solution within Ericsson. This is based on the Charging Control Node
(CCN). The Mediator is handling the off-line charging flow, but also works as a
back up node for the CCN. The protocol used over the interface is a subset of
Diameter, or FTP. In this new real time solution, the SDP in the old PPS is
replaced by the CCN node.
For nodes that distribute their data over IP, message based protocols like
BGw-RPC, CCI-RPC-1, CCI-RPC-2, and Radius will be used to achieve a
minimum delay. The protocols just mentioned are supported in the Mediator
for both collection and distribution of charging data.
• AXD
AXD is a high performance, multi service switch. AXD can carry multiple
services and large amounts of data. Services supported include ATM,
IP/MPLS, Frame relay, Circuit emulation, and Voice services.
Page 30
• AXC
The AXC is a cost effective, high capacity IP access point designed to give
carriers and service providers the ability to offer end-to-end “managed
network solutions” to their enterprise customers. The Mediator supports
AXC Tigris and AXC 706.
• AXI
The AXI offers a fault-tolerant router architecture and a comprehensive,
broadly deployed suite of internet routing software.
The Mediator provides support to the Ericsson routers AXI 510, AXI 520,
and AXI 540.
• WAP gateways
Mediator supports the Ericsson WAP solution.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 31/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
• Certified
SMS-C, messaging centres
Voicemail services and so on. This category consists of a vast
number of nodes. Verification is continuously ongoing.
• APG 40
Page 31
The Mediator is backward compatible, and supports all the nodes supported in
earlier versions of the Mediator (for example Mediator R8 and R9.0).
Mediator also supports the GTP’ protocol (for collection) to give a standardised
support of third party GPRS equipment.
The SDK can be used to offer a complete multi vendor support. By using the
SDK, third party vendors can develop interfaces from their NEs, to the
Mediator themselves. See chapter 4.1.1, for more information. The new multi
processes architecture of the Mediator means that new third party interfaces
can be placed in separate processes. This means that the security for the
Mediator will increase, since the Mediator will be up and running even if one of
the third party processes goes down.
Nodes and services, which are not supported in the Mediator today, can also
be offered to the operators by special adaptations in the configuration as
professional services.
The Mediator also supports collection of charging information generated by, for
example, the following services:
Page 32
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 33/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 33
Two of the Mediator’s basic functions is to collect and distribute the charging
related information. The amount of charging data produced in the network is
enormous, and it is a fact that the amount of data generated in the networks
will increase in the future. Real growth in UMTS will come from data transfer
over mobile and IP networks. This assumption is based on the fact that the
number of subscribers in the tele and data -communication networks will
continue to grow in the R9 time frame, as well as the number of minutes per
subscriber (telephone call or PDP context). This will have impacts on the
Mediator, both in terms of the number of network elements in a network, and
the increased CDR volumes.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 34/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
4.1.1. SDK
The SDK application introduces the possibility to develop new interfaces, both
on collection and distribution side in the Mediator. This application can be used
by, for example, operators or third party vendors, who wants to add a protocol
or format in the Mediator configuration on their own.
The SDK can be used to add new interfaces for collection and distribution.
Depending on what the customer requires, it is possible to select the following
SDK licenses:
Page 34
• create new decoders and encoders in order for the Mediator to be able to
handle new formats.
The Mediator runs on a standard Sun hardware using the Solaris OS, or a
standard HP hardware using HP-UX. Solaris, and HP-UX offers a wide-range
of standard security mechanisms that can be configured by the system
administrator. The security mechanisms provided are:
• Access Control (allows only trusted hosts to interface, both as source and
destination).
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 35/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
• Application Security (allow only the required services, like Telnet, FTP,
TCP/IP and so on, to be used from trusted hosts).
Page 35
Mediator clients, that is, the GUIs, are based on Java. In order to grant a
Mediator client access towards Mediator server, the Mediator OS machine
needs to be configured to treat the Mediator client as a trusted client (for
example, to allow the client to access to Mediator). Apart from the Access
Control, the Mediator requires User Authentication (User ID and password)
from GUI clients.
Supervisor
Supervisors have the authority to monitor the Mediator server and to change
their personal password.
Administrator
Administrators have the authority to monitor the Mediator server, shutdown
and start up individual nodes, and the server. They can add and delete
supervisors and administrators and change authority and password for these.
Configuration manager
Configuration managers have access to all the features in the Mediator. They
have the authority to monitor the Mediator server, shutdown and start up
individual nodes and the server. They can add and delete users and change
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 36/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
authority and password for any existing user. The configuration managers are
also allowed to change active configurations.
The security implemented in the interface between the Mediator and the NE is
dependent on the NE and its protocol. For NEs that require user
authentication, the Mediator provides the required information.
The operator’s business support network is built upon different systems, the
so-called post processing systems, each of them facilitating different needs.
The Mediator can distribute tailor made information that suits each individual
business support system.
Page 36
The Mediator can check so that no CDRs are lost. The CDR lost check uses
one field in all CDRs, per CDR type (for example, ChargeableDuration) and
summarises it for all incoming and all outgoing CDRs. A periodic check will
see if the difference between the two sums are abnormal.
For example, this can be useful in case a post processing system fails to
respond on a request for communication from the Mediator.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 37/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
are kept in safe storage on the mirrored disks.
4.2.8. Archiving
The Mediator provides a mechanism called file transfer verification, which can
be used to validate TT-files transferred from Ericsson IOG equipment.
Basically, this function allows the operator to validate that the TT-files sent
from an NE follow a consecutive order. The validation is based on the
sequence numbers, which is reflected in the TT-file name. It is useful to
operators for surveillance purposes. The Mediator can be configured to raise
an alarm in case the following abnormal event occurs
Page 37
Most operators store the charging data from the NEs, into optical disk media
on a routine basis. It is used as a first level of back up. For example, in case
an NE site becomes isolated due to a communication link failure that lasts for
a long duration, the normal flow towards the Mediator would be broken. By
using the charging data that is backed up on optical disk, the operator is able
to process the charging data through the Mediator. Thus, the Mediator
supports the operator to maintain the overall revenue flow, or by any reason
process old charging data.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 38/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
b) the transfer flag set to YES, but not present in the Mediator
c) inconsistent size
Manual recovery is also supported when FTP is used for collection of charging
data. The Mediator uses FTP initiator for fetching the files. A list over all the
files that has been stored on the Mediator can be monitored in the GUI. In this
list it is possible to choose which files should be collected again.
2. Cluster solution
Page 38
The first level of availability solution consists of a single machine system. This,
the most basic availability solution, handles on-line back up, but does not
handle a system failure. The single system contains shared disks, but then
there are no other similarities to the cluster solutions. Like all of the high
availability solutions the single system uses the Veritas File System (VXFS)
instead of the standard file system (UNIX file system), Veritas Volume
Manager (VXVM) to handle volumes, and Veritas Net Back up (NBU) to handle
on-line back ups. All these products are available on both HP and Sun.
With all the new external processes introduced in the R9.1 release of the
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 39/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Mediator,
cluster. there of
Instead will not bethe
having ansecond
asymmetric cluster
hardware anymore,
server in coldbut a symmetric
stand-by,
external processes like Oracle, Radius daemon, and SNMP over MIB II will be
recommended to be placed on the stand-by server.
When the server, where the primary Mediator is placed, goes down the stand-
by server with the rest of the external processes will take over automatically in
a couple of seconds. In the same way, if the stand-by server with the external
processes goes down, these will be started up on the primary Mediator server.
Mediator data is communicated to the stand-by server through the Veritas
Cluster software.
Page 39
Network Elements
LAN
Executive
Mediator _1
Mediator _2
Router
Mediator _3
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 40/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Mediator _SB
Stand-by
The standard solution consists of a 1+1 solution, that is, one active and one
stand-by server. Larger clusters can be offered, and are customized on a
case-by-case basis. However, this was more an issue for older versions of
the Mediator where the solution for large networks was using several Mediator
processes and hardware servers. In the new multi processes architecture
there is no use for several Mediator processes in the same way.
Page 40
Disaster recovery clusters are performed using VCS to build two single site
clusters at different physical locations.
The solution consists of two single site clusters described above. The two
clusters are configured to replicate data on-line from the primary site (the
cluster currently active), to the secondary site (the stand-by disaster site). The
replication is handled by Veritas Volume Replicator (VVR). This allows the
disaster site to take over the operation at any time.
In case the primary site goes down for any reason, a site switch must be
performed. The switch to the secondary site normally involves a manual
intervention, which means that a 24 hours monitoring of the system is required
to meet the availability requirement mentioned above. Once a site switch has
occurred, the primary site must be manually prepared to take back control
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 41/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
again.
crash. The level of effort needed depends on the reason for the primary site
LAN
Mediator_1
Router
Mediator_2
Page 41
two Mediators. The five upper NEs have Mediator_1 as their primary
destination for CDRs (Mediator_2 as secondary destination), and the five lower
NEs have Mediator_2 as their primary destination (Mediator_1 as secondary
destination). If an NE fails to send its CDRs to its primary Mediator, then it
sends them to the secondary. This means that the CDRs will reach the billing
system even if one Mediator is down. It would also be possible to configure the
Mediator to distribute CDRs to a secondary billing system if the ordinary billing
system is down.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 42/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
there must be some equipment in the network (for example a router),
which can route the charging data to the working Mediator if one of them
goes down.
Please note that the consolidation feature, and the hot billing feature is not
supported as standard features for this HA solution.
The CDR Editor gives the user possibility to monitor files, which are corrupt to
some extent. This means that corrupted files can be loaded into the CDR
Editor. When the corrupted CDRs in the file have been corrected the file is
stored on disk, where the file can be collected by the Mediator. In this way the
operator does not lose any revenue due to corrupt data.
As long as there exists a unique identifier (for example the Record Sequence
Number, RSN) in the CDRs, this feature can be used.
Page 42
The following three bullets are possible failures discovered by the RSN check:
The Mediator can check so that no CDRs are lost. The CDR lost check uses
one field in all CDRs, per CDR type (for example, ChargeableDuration) and
summarises it for all incoming and all outgoing CDRs. A periodic check will
see if the difference between the two sums are abnormal.
The Mediator provides a mechanism called file transfer verification, which can
be used to validate TT-file transfers from Ericsson IOG equipment. Basically,
this function allows the operator to validate that the TT-files sent from an NE
are consecutive. The validation is based on the sequence numbers, which is
reflected in the TT-file name. It is useful to operators for surveillance purposes.
The Mediator can be configured to raise an alarm in case of one of the
following abnormal events occur:
The CDR duplicate check is based on the consolidation feature. This means
that to use CDR duplicate check, the consolidation module is required.
Page 43
CDR duplicate check is done on some fields of the CDRs over a period of
time. Which fields that shall be used, the rules for the Duplicate check, and
what to do with the duplicated CDRs are configurable. The feature stores a
unique identifier (key) of each CDR in the consolidator node, for example:
• IMSI
• Duration
• Date
• Time
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 44/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
All incoming CDRs are then compared to the unique key from every CDR
stored in the consolidator node. If no match is found for the incoming CDRs,
the key of the CDRs is also saved in the consolidator table, and the CDRs are
sent out from the consolidator node. If there is a match for one of the CDRs, a
duplicate CDR is found, and that CDR can, for example, be discarded. All the
stored keys can be deleted from the consolidator node after a predefined
interval, for example a couple of hours.
CDR duplicate check can for example be used for a pre-paid billing system
where it is important that no data is duplicated, since the subscriber account is
charged in near real time.
4.4. Processing
When a new service is about to be introduced into a telecommunication
network, many billing systems that are in operation today are quite inflexible
when it comes to handling, for example, new CDR formats. Moreover, since
the processing capacity in a billing system is quite costly, operators want to
off-load the billing system. The difficulties in adapting the billing systems often
result in delays. Such delays may have significant impacts on the introduction
of new services in terms of the planned launch-date, or what is often referred
to as, time to market (TTM).
The Mediator addresses precisely those obstacles that often may occur in the
counter-playing between the telecommunication network and the business
network. In its processing capabilities, the Mediator demonstrates its unique
built-in flexibility.
Page 44
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 45/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
The decoding and encoding mechanisms are basic entities within the
Mediator. Decoding is used by the Mediator in order to unfold the incoming
CDRs thereby enabling identification of individual data fields within the CDRs.
Encoding is used by the Mediator to assemble individual data fields into a
complete CDR understood by the receiving post processing system.
Page 45
4.4.2. Compression
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 46/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
storage, or to reduce the file-transfer time in a network with low bandwidth. A
reduction of storage space, or better usage of the bandwidth, results in lower
costs.
The Mediator can compress and uncompress data-files to and from the
following formats:
• GZIP
• PKZIP
Page 46
4.4.3. Filtering
Network Elements
A
CDR
Billing
stream-a
System
B
CDR CDR
Stream
BGw stream-b
Fraud
Analysis
C
CDR
Storage
stream-c
System
The filtering, or routing, feature is used in order to control the data-flow through
the Mediator. For example, CDRs can be routed based on their type, or any
other information in one or a few of its fields. The return values of the filter
function point out on which link (towards which billing system or other post
processing system) the CDRs should be sent. The name of the link must not
be a number, but can as well be a user-defined string. Every link can be
pointed out by several return values.
In for example GPRS, IP and UMTS, filtering can be based on parameters like
Quality of Service (QoS) or Access Point Name.
The same information can be distributed to more than one post processing
system. For example, in the figure above, the stream-a could be identical to
stream-c while the stream-b distributes only certain type of CDRs suitable to
the post processing system-B. In fact, in most cases, each post processing
system has a specific task and needs only specific information related to its
task.
Page 47
4.4.4. Formatting
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 48/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Network Elements
that generate BER
coded CDRs.
BER
stream-a
Billing
uniform System
BGw
stream
ISO
stream-b
Network Elements
that generate ISO
coded CDRs.
The figure above shows a scenario where the NEs are being upgraded to
newer SW version. The old SW version supports ISO coded CDRs. Once an
NE is upgraded with the new SW release, it can only generate BER coded
CDRs. In this example, it is assumed that the billing system operates with ISO
coded CDRs. However, during the roll out of the new SW release to the NEs,
there will be a period of time when some NEs are running with the old SW
release, and some with the new SW release. For large networks, roll out
periods can last up to approximately six months. With the Mediator such a
scenario can be handled by means of the formatting feature. The BER coded
CDRs can be re-formatted to comply with the ISO format. Thereby, the billing
system would continue to function without needing to consider the BER coded
CDRs. Once the billing system is upgraded to be able to handle the BER
coded CDRs, the re-formatting done by the Mediator can be inhibited.
Page 48
A set of standard billing data structures are delivered with the Mediator, for
example, different revisions of CME 20, CMS 40 and TAP. In addition to this,
formatters can be used to transform the incoming CDRs into formats and
structures that can be handled by the downstream applications.
Also a set of standard formatters are delivered with the Mediator, for example,
different revisions of CME20 -> TAP, or CME20 -> GSM1205. Other formatters
can be offered as professional services to the customers.
Mediator can also be configured to generate CDRs from events and logs.
4.4.5. Consolidation
A chain of shared memory blocks contains the consolidation table for each
consolidation node (that is, there is one separate consolidation table for each
consolidation node). The memory blocks in this chain are built, and initialised
by the job manager.
Page 49
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 50/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Assume that two NEs connected to the same consolidation node, is placed in
different NE groups. In this case it will only be possible to have one of the NEs
writing their non-consolidated CDRs to the shared memory at the same time.
NEGroup 1
NE 1
buffer 1
Memory
Post
Shared memory table 1 Processing
System
Memory
buffer 2
NE 2
NEGroup 2
In the old solution the consolidation node is locked for one of the NEs from the
moment the first CDR in that file arrives to the consolidation node, until the last
has arrived. That is, the consolidation node is locked for other NE files
meanwhile the current file is processed upstreams the consolidation node.
With the new Mediator design this locking time (LT) is only a fraction of the LT
in the old solution. This means that the consolidation node is accessible for
other NEs files during the upstream processing of one file, which introduces
the processing parallelism mentioned above.
In the old solution, the LT on the consolidation node’s shared memory also has
to be maintained until all the processing downstreams the consolidation node
is finished. The performance in this case can be improved if the chain of
processing nodes is split in the configuration immediately after the
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 51/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 50
consolidation node, with a file buffer in the memory. In this file buffer all the
consolidated CDRs are written until the complete file is stored. When the
complete file is stored, the file is sent to the job manager for further
processing. This decreases the LT to a fraction of the locking time in the
earlier solutions. This in turn means that the consolidation node is not locked,
and processing parallelism is introduced also here.
With configuration services the CDRs stored in the unmatched directory can
be polled from disk, processed, and distributed.
There are traffic cases in the network when several CDRs are generated for a
single service usage scenario. For example, when a subscriber makes a long
duration call the NE that is serving the subscriber may output several partial
CDRs. This is more and more common in the data communication networks
(GPRS, UMTS) where the subscribers are on-line (connected to the network)
during much longer time periods than in the ordinary wireline and mobile
networks. Normally, NEs can be configured to output partial CDRs periodically
(for example, in 15 minutes interval).
Partial CDRs for the same call may be produced in more than one NE. For
example, if the serving NE changes during the call duration. For example, in a
mobile network when the subscriber is moving from one MSC area into
another MSC area. Another example is in a GPRS network, where CDRs are
generated in both the G-GSN and the S-GSN nodes (see special chapter
about Consolidation in GPRS and UMTS below for more information).
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 52/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 51
NE-1
NE-2
In the figure above the CDRs in white colour represent the CDRs generated
for a long duration call. By using the consolidation feature in the Mediator,
relevant information components (for example chargeable duration) from all
partial CDRs are consolidated into one CDR. The consolidated CDR would
then be distributed to the billing system and be used to charge for the entire
call.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 53/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 52
The Mediator enables charging for datacom service usage with a minimal
affect on the existing billing system. Mediator can either transform the data into
something the existing billing system can recognise, or it can be used for
building new billing applications, specifically adapted to volume based
charging. This will make it possible to introduce datacom services quickly and
to be able to charge for them immediately. This can be used as an occasional
solution until the billing system has been adapted to handle volume based
charging, or as a permanent solution if that is preferred.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 54/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 53
The look-up tables provided by the Mediator makes it simple to handle large
data tables. It can, for example, be used to define that CDRs originating from
certain subscribers (for example VIPs) are to be processed in a particular
way. The look-up tables can be accessed from the processing language, for
example, in filters and formatters using a function, which takes a table name
and a key as argument and returns the data for that key.
VIP table:
5550007 4
5550008 1
CDR
VIP-rank
CDR CDR CDR BGw
CDR CDR CDR
In
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 55/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 54
Figure 12, VIP subscribers are ranked in a look-up table. The CDR in white
colour originates from a VIP subscriber. For example, by accessing the look-
up table, it would be possible to detect CDRs originating from VIP subscribers
and retrieve the corresponding ranking information. The ranking information
could be added to a copy of the CDR and then be sent to a special post
processing system, for example, call behaviour system and churn
management system.
In principal, look-up tables can be used to hold any type of information.
Combined with the flexible way look-up tables can be used, from within the
Mediator, it increases the total flexibility provided by the Mediator.
One example where a look-up table can be used is the verified interface (the
data is transferred over FTP) between the Mediator and the SDP (Service
Data Point, SDP is one node in the Ericsson pre-paid system, PPS). The SDP
provides the Mediator with information about the Pre-Paid subscriber-base
(MSISDN number). This information is used to create a look-up table in the
Mediator. The update of the look-up table is an automatic procedure and the
Mediator does not need to be stopped. How often the look-up table should be
updated is configurable.
The look-up table is used in the Mediator to filter out the pre-paid CDRs when
distributing the CDRs to post processing systems.
In the cases where the SDP cannot handle the format that the CDRs are
presented in originally, CDR processing is used in the Mediator to adapt the
CDRs to a standardised format.
Page 55
4.4.7. Rating
Saturday 2
Sunday 2
19991231 2
Mediator
CDR CDR CDR CDR CDR CDR
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 57/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
X$ Y$ Z$
Page 56
The Mediator allows definition of user configurable tariff tables and rating rules
by means of the rating function. The rating feature makes it possible to attach
price, or tariff information in the CDRs, see example in Figure 13.
For example, the rating function can be favourable for pre-paid services,
especially in combination with Hot Billing. The Mediator could be used in order
to determine the tariff, set a price tag on a CDR, and then send it immediately
to a pre-paid system that charges the subscriber’s account.
The Mediator can be used either as a complete rating node, or to make some
pre-rating, depending on the capabilities of the billing system and on the
functional distribution preferred by the operator. For example, it is possible to
translate the volume-based information generated in the GPRS nodes and in
the Internet Access Server (IAS) into a time based charging scheme. Mediator
can translate the volume-based data produced, for example, megabytes sent,
into time-based data that the billing system can handle. An operator may, for
example, decide that one megabyte of data equals ten minutes of speech
time, which corresponds to a known cost in the used currency of the operator.
Mediator can do all these calculations, of course completely user configurable
according to the operator’s needs.
1. The data-flow that has passed through the Mediator (Audit trail log).
4. Statistics (Statistics).
For each of the first four log files, the Mediator provide suitable GUI windows
that allow the user to browse among the logged entries. Hence, it is possible
to retrieve substantial history information regarding the events tracked by the
Mediator. Moreover, the user is provided with a statistics function, see chapter
4.5.4, for retrieving a pre-defined diagram visualising trends of the data-flow
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 58/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
through the Mediator.
All the logs in the Mediator are by default stored in an Oracle database. In the
SQL database new tools for reading, searching and reporting are possible to
use. This means that a greater flexibility will be achieved for handling the
Mediator logs.
Page 57
The audit trail log provides information about TT-files that have been collected
or distributed by the Mediator. The following information can be retrieved from
the audit trail log:
• The number of CDRs contained in the TT-file (only available if the file has
been decoded in the Mediator).
The audit trail log is by default stored in an Oracle database. This data can be
useful for an external system, which can search and create reports based on
the Mediator data in the database.
The alarm log contains information related to the alarm events as they take
place in the Mediator since the last clearing of the alarm log. It keeps track of
occurred alarm events, as well as ceased alarm events. All relevant
information such as date, time, alarm information regarding the event is stored
in the alarm log.
There is also an active alarm log, containing all the alarms active in the
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 59/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Mediator for the moment. When an alarm is ceased, either by the user or
automatically by the Mediator, it is removed from the active alarm log, but the
alarm log is not affected.
All alarms have a configurable severity level. The severity level is set in the
Mediator GUI.
Page 58
Alarms can be distributed, for example, to OSS using TXF, or over SNMP to
other external systems. Mediator also supports distribution and control of
alarms over Alarm IRP. For this feature the CORBA implementation set is
used. This means, for example, that configuration management of Mediator
alarms is possible by using the CORBA interface and besides that noti-
fications will be possible from Mediator, to clients’ CORBA interface.
The event log contains information about the user commands sent from the
Mediator GUI to the Mediator server process. The event log keeps track of
commands that modify the state of the Mediator server, or the data stored on
the server. It is possible to retrieve the time when the command was issued
and by whom.
4.5.4. Statistics
From the statistics function the user may view graphs visualising the CDR
flow through the Mediator varies over a period of time. From the statistics
window it is possible to printout the statistics information, either direct to a
printer, or to a post-script file. The following parameters are configurable:
• The granularity on the graphs time axis, that is, hour, day, week.
• The type of data on the graphs data-volume axis, that is, files, bytes,
entries.
The In Service Performance (ISP) log contains information about uptime and
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 60/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
downtime for the Mediator
the total availability server process.
of the Mediator server.ItThe
provides
ISP isuseful information
not presented about
in a GUI
window, but is accessed from a terminal window using an SQL monitor.
Page 59
The Mediator also offers surveillance, and alarm generation in both single, and
cluster configurations, for the external processes like Oracle, Radius, and
SNMP over MIB II.
In order to keep track of the alarm history, all alarms are logged in the alarm
log. Moreover, the Mediator provides an active alarm log. It is used to keep
track of all alarms currently active in the Mediator. When an alarm is ceased,
either by the user or automatically by the Mediator, it is removed from the
active alarm log, but the alarm log is not affected.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 61/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
Page 60
5. Terminology
Blocked Blocked files, where a file contains several fix sized blocks.
Each block contains a number of CDRs.
Page 61
HA High Availability
HP Hewlett Packard
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 63/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
IAS Internet Access Server
IN Intelligent Network
IP Internet Protocol
Page 62
LT Locking Time
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 64/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
OS Operating System
Page 63
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 65/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
RFC 2139.
SFI Session File Input, an MTP session for data transfer. The
receiver of data initiates the communication and polls for
data.
SFO Session File Output, an MTP session for data transfer. The
holder of the data sends it spontaneously.
Page 64
TT Toll Ticket
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 66/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
VVR Veritas Volume Replicator
Page 65
6. References
Ref 1 155 17-FAB 760 170 Uen Text File Alarm Adaptation Unit,
Functional Specification
* Note, System Interface Specification does not exist for Mediator R9.1 yet.
Reference to be updated as soon as document is finished.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 67/68
11/9/2018 Technical product description, Billing Gateway R9.1
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://learning.ericsson.net/emm_bgw/cpi_manual/cpi_manual.pdf 68/68