Network Element Description
Network Element Description
DESCRIPTION
Disclaimer
The contents of this document are subject to revision without notice due to
continued progress in methodology, design and manufacturing. Ericsson shall
have no liability for any error or damage of any kind resulting from the use
of this document.
Trademark List
Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Purpose and Scope 1
2 Product Overview 2
2.1 General 2
2.2 File and event mediation 2
2.3 Interface 3
2.4 Support for Ericsson Products 5
2.5 Support for Multi-Vendor 8
3 Functions 10
3.1 Collection 10
3.2 Distributed Event Collector 11
3.3 Processing 14
3.4 Distribution 20
3.5 Revenue Assurance 22
3.6 Advanced CDR Repair System 23
3.7 Security 25
3.8 File and event mediation Logs 27
3.9 Alarm Handling 29
3.10 Auto Load Balance 30
3.11 BSCS 31
3.12 Charging SDK 33
3.13 Performance Monitor 33
3.14 CDR logging 33
3.15 CDR and File statistics 33
3.16 Configurations for Mediation of Network Data 33
3.17 Configuration Pack 35
5 Characteristics 37
5.1 Performance 37
5.2 Availability 37
5.3 Reliability 38
5.4 Recovery 38
5.5 Secured Password 39
Glossary 40
Reference List 41
1 Introduction
This chapter provides an over view of File and event mediation by including its
the purpose and scope.
IMPORTANT
Some of the features described in this document might not be available
depending upon the procured licenses. For more information, refer Ericsson
Multi Mediation 7 - Network Impact Report, Reference [6].
2 Product Overview
2.1 General
File and event mediation provides a flexible and powerful mediation solution.
The overall aim of the product is to support quick and smooth introduction
of services into the communication network by providing a single point and
flexible interface for charging related information. File and event mediation also
provides flexible tools for all charging data management and data manipulation.
For the interfaces such as Diameter, Radius, SNMP, and NetFlow, File and
event mediation uses the event collector. Event collector is a part of Online
mediation, but File and event mediation is capable of using event collector for
these interfaces.
File and event mediation consists of the various parts as shown in Figure 1
Network ManagementSystem
Event
collector
2.3 Interface
This section describes the interface.
The protocols supported offer a generic support for any collector using the
supported protocols and decoders with small modifications. In these cases,
only a new ASN.1 data structure is to be added. This can be configured and
customized in a flexible way by the user. New collectors can also be offered
from Ericsson as customizations with short lead times if requested.
The File and event mediation supports the following interfaces for the following
functions, see Table 1.
Note: MTP/SFI, MTP/SFO, FTAM, and Radius are not supported for Linux
on x86 platform.
For more information regarding the interfaces used, refer to Ericsson Multi
Mediation 7 - File and event mediation, Interface Description, Reference [1].
• Wireline
• Engine
• IP/Datacom
• WLAN
For more information regarding collection, see Section 3.1 on page 10.
Note: MTP/SFI, MTP/SFO, FTAM, X.25, and Radius are not supported for
Linux on x86 platform.
For more information regarding the interfaces used, refer Ericsson Multi
Mediation 7 - File and event mediation, Interface DescriptionReference [1].
3 Functions
3.1 Collection
3.1.1 General
The File and event mediation can collect detail records from different types of
network elements, for example, switches, voice-mail systems, datacom nodes,
IP routers, and intelligent peripherals. It can collect detail records using multi
vendor proprietary protocols and collectors, Ericsson proprietary protocols,
and standard protocols.
• Protocol
Used for transferring the charging data. For more information, refer
Ericsson Multi Mediation 7 - File and event mediation, Interface Description,
Reference [1].
• Data structures
• Decoder
Describes how the parameters and tags in the data structures are coded.
For more information on the decoding, see Section 3.3.2 on page 14.
• Disk
• Optimized Disk
• FTP
• SFTP
• MultiNE
Note: For collectors that collect data from NE, set the property to False.
3.2.2 Scalability
If a DEC fails, the network node can send the events to any other DEC. Some
constraints to this option are as follows:
3.2.3 Features
The features of DEC are described in the following sections.
The Value Router filters, splits, routes, or discards the transactions before
distributing them to receiving system. The filtering rules can be based on
combination of parameters. The routing conditions can be configured in GUI by
configuration administrator. The routing rules are written in JAVA.
3.2.3.2 Formatter
The Formatter formats the transaction. It uses JAVA based parameter mapping
functions. Syntax highlighting and compilation validation improves error
detection capabilities.
The Throughput Meter logs time spent in each activity per second. It is
displayed in a separate GUI window and can be switched off/on in runtime.
It measures latency on different levels of the configuration. The levels can be:
3.2.3.5 Security
SSH Support
SSH provides secure encrypted traffic in both directions. The port forwarding
function provides a safe tunnel for any TCP session.
IPSec Support
The IPsec standard provides a secure tunnel (Virtual Private Network) for
transmitting data through an unsecured network such as the Internet. IPSec is
used to provide security between two different networks but can also be used
between two nodes. IPSec protects data transferred over the network but does
not handle user authentication. The protocol is configured on both nodes to
encrypt all traffic on IP level.
The Diameter F-E activity enables the clients to communicate with DEC using
application protocols based on:
Applications that are supported by the business logic are defined in the activity
profile as Locally Supported Application.
3.3 Processing
3.3.1 General
The File and event mediation supports a number of adaptable processing
functions:
3.3.2 Decoding
The decoding mechanism is a basic entity within the File and event mediation.
Decoding is used to unfold the incoming detail records thereby enabling
identification of individual data fields within the detail records. The detail
records received must be decoded before they can be processed.
The formats of the detail records and the Event Modules can be configured.
In addition to the detail record formats above, the File and event mediation
can handle the following file formats:
• Blocked
Blocked files, where a file consists of several fixed size blocks. Each block
contains a number of detail records. The block-size can be configured.
• Header-Trailer
Files consisting of fixed size headers and trailers. Headers and trailers are
supported on file-, block-, and detail record-level.
3.3.3 Encoding
The encoding mechanism is a basic entity within the File and event mediation.
Encoding is used to assemble individual data fields into a complete detail
record understood by the receiving business system. All data decoded, or
produced, by a configuration must be encoded before it can be sent to a
business system. The output format can be different from the input format. The
following encoding formats are supported:
• BER
• Fixed-size ISO
• Fixed-size Packed
Generates output readable for the human eye that can be used to
investigate the content of detail records.
• ASCII
The formats of the detail records and the Event Modules can be configured.
• XML
The following file formats are supported for distribution of detail records:
• Blocked
Blocked files, where a file consists of several fixed size blocks. Each block
contains a number of detail records. The block-size can be configured.
• Header-Trailer
Files consisting of fixed size headers and trailers. Headers and trailers are
supported on file-, block-, and detail record-level.
DUP offers the users an integrated developers kit for customizing the
business logic. DUP has special functions, which are optimized for
processing of tele- and data communication charging data. DUP also
allows easy charging data handling and customization down to bit level.
DUP is based on C++ and can easily be understood by a programmer
with basic programming skills.
Provides Tcl specific commands and features and offers the possibility
to execute business logic written in Tcl. Tcl also offers the possibility to
execute specific Tcl scripts at specific processing events.
• Java
3.3.5 Formatting
The formatter activities can be configured with business logic in order to:
A set of standard charging data structures are delivered with the product, for
example different revisions of CME20, CMS40, and GSN. In addition to this,
formatters can be used to transform the incoming detail records into formats
and structures that can be handled by the business systems.
A set of standard formatters is delivered with the product, for example, different
revisions of CME20 R12 to CME20 R11 or SGSN R6 to SGSN R5. Other
formatters can be offered as professional services to the customers.
3.3.6 Value-Router
The Value-Router (dispatching) function is used in order to control the data
flow through a configuration.
The Value-Router can for example be used to route detail records based on
their content or type to:
The Value-Router compares the value of a field within the detail record with
some predefined value, or a value in a lookup table. Routing can be done
based on a single field, or a combination of fields in a detail record.
• GZIP
• PKZIP
3.3.8 Consolidation
The consolidation function makes it possible to compile a new detail record with
data from different sources and formats.
• Memory-based
• Database-based
There is a timer for each consolidation activity. This timer controls how long
a specific unconsolidated detail record will be stored before it is reallocated.
The timer can be configured graphically in the GUI.
The reallocated detail records are stored in a special directory for the memory
based consolidator and in a special database table for the database based
consolidator. Optionally, an alarm can be raised.
With configuration services the unmatched detail records can be pulled from
disk, processed, and distributed to several business systems.
All consolidation activities are logged in a consolidation log, see Section 3.8.7
on page 29.
For example, it can be used to define that detail records originating from a
certain group of subscribers are to be processed in a particular way. The
lookup tables can be accessed from DUP, for example, in Value-Routers and
formatters using a function, which takes a table name and a key as argument
and returns the data for that key.
The information in this table is allocated in the RAM of the server. This
grants high performance when accessing the entries in the table. The
information in the table can be kept up to date without stopping the
processing. A copy of this information is also available on file.
The tree table is managed similar to the memory lookup table. However, it
is used for number analysis of telephony network directory numbers, for
example, phone numbers. A copy of this information is also available on file.
The Domain Name Server (DNS) is the way that internet domain names are
located and translated into internet protocol addresses. The DNS lookup
function can be used to call a central database holding different kinds of
subscriber information.
The File and event mediation also offers the possibility to access data in external
database tables using DUP. The following functions are possible to use:
• Insert data
• Remove data
• Selecting data
An entry in the log is created each time a file containing detail records is
processed.
An entry in the log is created each time a detail record of a specified type is
processed.
There also exists a database collector, which makes it possible to reinsert the
detail records distributed by a database distributor into the processing flow.
3.4 Distribution
The File and event mediation supports the following distribution related
functions:
• Multiple Destinations
Distribution of the same detail records to more than one business system
at the same time. Detail records and files can be distributed in different
formats to different destinations.
• Buffering
In case of a link failure, the detail records are buffered on mirrored disks
and sent automatically as soon as it is possible to distribute to the business
system again.
• Triggering
Can be used, for example, to alert a business system each time it has
received a new file or to distribute alarms through e-mail.
• Billing Systems
• Prepaid Systems
• Data Warehouses
• Roaming Centers
• BSCS Distributor
• PA-RISC
• x86 Linux
0 MSC 13.0/13.1/13.2
0 SGSN R8
0 GGSN R5
The protocols supported offer generic support for any distributor using the
supported protocols and encoders with small modifications. In these cases
only a new ASN.1 data structure is to be added. This can be configured and
customized in a flexible way by the user. New distributors can also be offered
from Ericsson as customizations with short lead times if requested.
• Disk
• FTP
• SFTP
• Alternative Destinations
• Buffering
• Alternative Media
Network operators can choose to store the charging data from the network
elements in the network, on tape media on a routine basis. This operation
is used as a first level of backup. For example, in case a network element
becomes isolated due to a communication link failure that lasts for a long
time, the normal flow would be broken. By using the charging data that is
backed up on tape, the network operator is able to process the charging
data. This function enables processing of charging data even if the network
is down for a long period of time.
Manual recovery is supported for FTP. A list of all the files that are available
for collection in the network element can be monitored in the GUI. In this
list it is possible to manually choose which files should be collected again.
FTP initiator is used to fetch the files.
For more information on File and event mediation recovery, see Section
5.4 on page 38.
0 Transfer flag set to YES, but are not present in the File and event
mediation
0 Inconsistent size
For more information on File and event mediation recovery, see Section 5.4
on page 38.
Before detail record data can be edited, it must be decoded from its external
format to an internal format which the Advanced CDR Repair System application
understands. The Advanced CDR Repair System accomplishes this by using
the format information stored in the database. When editing completes, the
data is encoded into an external format (either into original or some other
format) before being written to the original or another detail record file.
The Advanced CDR Repair System consists of a server and a client. The
server runs on either the same system as the client or on a different system.
• All the work of reading, decoding, encoding, recovering and writing the
detail record files
• Collection of data from the database that is required by the client, for
example, record format information
The client is responsible for the interface towards the user. For example, the
client displays the decoded detail record data in a spreadsheet, where it may
be edited.
The Advanced CDR Repair System has an application specific audit function.
For more information, see Section 3.8.8 on page 29.
3.6.1 Functions
The following functions are available for the Advanced CDR Repair System.
When opening a file, the user selects the file format and the external
format. The Advanced CDR Repair System then displays the internal
formats that can be mapped to the selected external format. All formats
are retrieved from the database and new formats must first be added with
the format builder before they can be used with the Advanced CDR Repair
System. When encoding a corrected file, the user can select another format
compared to the original, and it is possible to save the corrected file with a
new name or to overwrite the original file. It is also possible to move the
original file, at decoding, to avoid overwriting it.
Editing rules can be defined and applied across many detail record files
at the same time, but all files must be of the same format. Each function
consists of one or more filters or editing functions.
• Split Files
0 source file
0 date
0 time
0 a qualifier
• Export Files
This function allows the user to export detail record contents from the
spreadsheet view to a simple text file.
• Global Filters
3.7 Security
File and event mediation is assumed to be part of a trusted domain, for
example, an Ethernet (sub) network that is protected from the outside world
through a firewall. Configuration and access to the trusted domain is the
responsibility of the network operator. The hardware and operating systems
also offer a wide range of standard security mechanisms that can be configured
by the system administrator.
Clients (GUI) are based on Java. In order to grant a client access towards File
Mediation Manager (FMM), the OS running on the FMM machine needs to be
configured to treat the client as a trusted client (for example to allow the client
to access the FMM). Apart from the Access Control, File and event mediation
requires user authentication (user ID and password) from GUI clients.
The following data consistency functions are available for the File and event
mediation:
record to the time stamp of the detail record being currently processed. The
time difference must be within a defined interval.
This function makes it possible to check if the detail record already has been
processed by performing a checksum of specified fields in the detail record.
This function makes it possible to trace individual files through the chain of
events in a configuration. This means that it is possible to see which input
files that have resulted in an output file or which output files that have been
generated as a result of a certain input file.
• Archiving
• Traffic Monitoring
This feature makes it possible for the operator to monitor the pattern of the
traffic coming in to File and event mediation, comparing it with historical
data and to discover deviations. An example could be that the number of
incoming records from originating calls starts to decline when it should
increasing. This will allow the operator to find any possible faults at the
correct time.
Event tracing and debugging offers advanced tools for finding and
eliminating faults in the business logic and thus preventing corruption or
loss of charging data.
• Service Simulator
This function makes it possible to simulate traffic coming into File and event
mediation. The service simulator is configured to create any number of
detail records and filling them with the desired content. The function can
be used, among others, for verifying business logic implementation before
applying it to a live environment.
File and event mediation can be configured to distribute the logs to external
systems. It is possible to configure the types of log entries to be distributed and
to format the log entries to suit the external systems.
The following logs are connected to File and event mediation. Most of these
logs are also available through their respective GUIs if the function Advanced
CDR Repair System is delivered:
• Advanced CDR Repair System Audit log, see Section 3.8.8 on page 29
File and event mediation has an event log. The log keeps track of events
that modify the state of the server or the data stored on the server. Each log
entry holds information such as time of event and which user or activity that
caused the event.
Note: The Consolidator log tab is for database consolidators. Only database
consolidators should be used for seeing the logs in the Consolidator
log tab.
This report contains information regarding editing sessions that have not
been finished in an accurate way or are still in progress. This allows
the user to track what kind of changes have been made to a file before
encoding the file.
The report visualizes each file that has been opened, the changes that
have been made to a file, which Value-Routers were applied, what kind of
editing was done, who made the changes, how many detail records were
changed, when the changes were made, and so on. This could be used for
legal purposes or to track other information related to changes that have
been made to detail records within the file.
For more information regarding interfaces and protocols, see Section 2.3 on
page 3.
Note: Sun Management Centre (Sun MC) only works with Sun hardware.
The product consists of different parts that can be combined depending on the
requirements. File and event mediation uses the Sun MC, Advanced Systems
Monitoring, which provides the following functions:
3.11 BSCS
The section provides information about BSCS Formatter, BSCS ASN.1
structure, BSCS CDR Memory Duplicate Detection, BSCS Consolidator, and
BSCS Collector.
• SSGN R8 : SGSN80berToBSCSR2udr.bfo
• GGSN R5 : EricssonGGSNR5berToBSCSR2udr.bfo
BSCSR2udr.asn1
BSCSR2Lookup.asn1
BSCSR3udr.asn1 (Along with Record Part and Base Part, this ASN1 also
supports the structures for Charge Part and Free Unit Part). Charge Part and
Free Unit Part are used only when rated CDRs are sent to BSCS.
• BSCSR2udr.uds_base_part_id.call_type_info.call_type
• BSCSR2udr.uds_base_part_id.start_time.timestamp
• BSCSR2udr.uds_base_part_id.start_time.time_offset
• BSCSR2udr.uds_record_id.s_p_number.address
• BSCSR2udr.uds_record_id.s_p_number.numbering_plan
• BSCSR2udr.uds_record_id.s_p_port.address
• BSCSR2udr.uds_record_id.s_p_port.numbering_plan
• BSCSR2udr.uds_record_id.o_p_number.address
• BSCSR2udr.uds_record_id.o_p_number.numbering_plan
• BSCSR2udr.uds_base_part_id.service.svl_code
Partial UDRs are assembled only in case when Assembly is set to TRUE. If
Assembly is set to FALSE then all the input UDR’s are distributed without
any consolidation.
• Max CDR Age: The value is set in minutes. It defines the maximum time
to wait for the next expected partial UDR. When the time exceeds since
the arrival of the latest partial UDR into the system, consolidator keeps this
used to analyze the quality of CS and PS network. These can be used for
Subscriber Tracing and Analysis, Terminal Analysis, Network Analysis, and
Troubleshooting.
• MSCServiceAssuranceConfig
0 roamingCallForwarding
0 callForwarding
0 mSOriginating
0 mSTerminating
0 mSOriginatingSMSinMSC
0 mSTerminatingSMSinMSC
0 locationServices
The MSC generates a CDR for each call or SMS. A CDR collects charging
information related to Voice/SMS services for a CS mobile. It stores
information such as calling/called IMSI, calling/called MSISDN, start/end
time, etc.
It is possible that the default CDR output from the network elements does
not contain failure-oriented CDRs, for example calls did not get established,
or were dropped for some technical reason. It is recommended to change
NE’s charging output configuration to include these CDRs as well.
The configuration takes input CDRs from MSC for processing. During
processing non-supported and duplicate CDRs are discarded. After these
transformations are applied on the CDRs to deliver Assurance CDRs in
XML format.
• GSNServiceAssuranceConfig
This configuration supports input CDRs from SGSN and GGSN versions
2009A to 2010B.
The configuration takes input CDRs from SGSN and GGSN. CDRs from
GGSN (for home network) and SGSN (for roaming) are processed and rest
are discarded. During processing non-supported and duplicate CDRs are
discarded and remaining are converted into XML format and distributed
over SFTP.
• The network elements that will be connected to the File and event mediation
including formats and protocol information
• The business systems that will be connected to the File and event
mediation including formats and protocol information
The user can login to FMM with the help of GUI. All the File and event servers
connected to the FMM can be monitored from the GUI. It is possible to see
whether the servers are active (running) or not. All server settings and the
different data flows can be configured from the GUI.
It is also possible for the user to monitor the data flow through the File and
event mediation, inspect logs, handle alarms, start and stop specific activities in
the configuration, or to start and stop the whole configuration.
5 Characteristics
5.1 Performance
The multi process architecture means that, for example, new third party
interfaces can be placed in separate processes. This means that the security
will increase, since the system will be up and running even if one of the third
party processes goes down.
5.2 Availability
The standard cluster solution consists of a 1+1 solution, that is, two nodes
working together in a cluster. The cluster works in a symmetric way, where
both the system nodes can be utilized. In case of n+1 cluster solution, several
nodes working together in a cluster. It is recommended to use +1 node as
a standby node.
In case of failure of one of the system nodes, the cluster solution makes it
possible for one system node to take over disks and network interfaces from
the other system node. The advantage of this solution is that the cluster
detects errors, and fail-over instantaneously and automatically, and that it is
not dependent on functions within the network. All File and event mediation
functions are supported by this high availability solution. The load must not be
higher than what one single node can take of the total load.
For the runtime configuration, it is possible to change the configuration and then
decide if a full activation or a partly runtime activation should be performed. The
runtime configuration enables the following:
• Possibility to add and remove processing flows without affecting other flows
5.3 Reliability
5.4 Recovery
The recovery functions can be divided into three different levels:
There are a some files from the File and event mediation file structure that
should be backed-up to ensure fast recovery of File and event mediation.
There is a function for supervising the server and manage processes. The
supervision function checks that these processes are up and running. If
any of the two processes has gone down for any reason, the File and event
mediation tries to restart the processes.
• Activity Recovery
• Customizations
Glossary
Reference List
Ericsson Documents
[2] Ericsson Multi Mediation 7 - File and event mediation, Glossary of Terms
and Acronyms, 71/0033-FAM 901 434 Uen
[3] Ericsson Multi Mediation 7 - File and event mediation, User's Guide,
71/1553-FAM 901 434 Uen
[5] Ericsson Multi Mediation 7 - File and event mediation, Procedure Manual,
71/1546-FAM 901 434Uen
Standards
[8] Specification of Basic Encoding Rules (BER) for Abstract Syntax Notation
One (ASN.1) ITU-T Recommendation X.690