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Diameter Requirements for
3G/LTE/IMS

Jonathan Zarkower
Director of Product Marketing
Session Delivery Infrastructure

jonathan.zarkower@oracle.com
The all-IP signaling future

All-IP networks are built differently

SIP to establish communication
sessions
Diameter to exchange subscriber
profile data

Exploding signaling traffic

Moving beyond voice - UC, RCS
messaging, collaboration
Extreme mobile data usage
Mobile device proliferation
smartphones, tablets, M2M
Increased mobility and roaming

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 Diameter applications in LTE & IMS
Attachment/registration Mobility/tracking

Authentication & authorization Authentication & authorization

Data and voice sessions Roaming

QoS & charging AAA, charging & QoS

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Myriad Diameter interfaces in LTE and IMS

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 Diameter Signaling Controllers

Service provider
IPX/
HSS, OCS, PCRF
roaming
hub

Visited service
MME, PDN GW, provider
GGSN, CSCF, AS

Key functions

RFC 3588 Diameter agent 3GPP Subscriber Location Function (SLF)

3GPP Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) GSMA Diameter Edge Agent (DEA)

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Edge and Core DSCs

Data roaming
VoLTE roaming
Edge Services
federation

Aggregation &
routing
Core OCS proxy
HSS/AAA proxy
PCRF proxy

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 DSCs Different from STPs

Diameter lacks tight control, congestion

management and resource allocation
provided by M3UA/SCCP/TCAP/MAP
Similar to the ISUP to SIP paradigm shift
Same challenges in Signaling Control for
Diameter and SIP
Routing logic may be based on multiple
flexible criteria

Diameter is an IP protocol!

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Diameter Signaling Pain Points

Network Interoperability Security and Visibility

Scalability Service
& Availability
Route
Complexity

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Goals Dynamic and Scalable Routing
Support for AAA, QoS, mobility and charging applications
Subscriber-based routing (IMSI-HSS matching and
home network resolution)
Roaming steering (preferred network selection)
IMSI-to-resource mapping
Session binding for PCRF
Route around failures
Customer-defined applications
Benefits
Enforce complex business logic
Architectural flexibility and
future-proof
Easy to provision and troubleshoot
Highly scalable
Service continuity

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 Goals Interoperability and Interworking

Requirement DSC Functions/Features

Diameter signaling Message manipulation before and after
normalization message routing
Search and modify on any AVP (attribute value
pair)
Transport layer interworking Interworking between SCTP, TCP, SCTP over
IPsec, TCP over IPsec
IP address interworking Interworks IPv4 to IPv6 transport
IPv4-IPv4 bridging

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 Goals Security and Service Availability

Requirement DSC Functions/Features

Secure border & protect Wire-speed, DDoS and access controls
the Diameter core Diameter signaling rate limiting
Hide topology from roaming partners
Confidentiality of roaming information
Authentication of untrusted 3rd parties
Prevent unauthorized service IMSI range blocking
Ensure service availability Integrated Diameter overload controls
Anomaly isolation - Single Diameter element
cannot inadvertently interrupt service
Prevent starvation attacks
Scale security Purpose-built platforms
Integrated and scalable encryption

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 Goals Controlling Overload and Congestion

Requirement DSC Functions/Features

Control and monitor Diameter Transaction rate policing by agent or group
signaling traffic Monitor upstream and downstream agent
availability
Increase network scale Diameter load balancing
Protect upstream devices Message filtering
Policy based AVP forwarding and rejection
by ingress/egress realm, originating host,
specific AVPs
Fine grained message control based on
application-id and message command-code
Increase network resiliency Agent failure detection and route-around
& failure response Report on network failures

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 Goals Visibility
Centralized Network Management Monitoring and KPI Reporting

Scalable easy- Manage large number of DSCs

Easy-to-use (GUI)
to-use Common management for all elements
management Flow-through provisioning via APIs

Respond to Overload and security attacks

attacks, Diameter connection failures
overload and Diameter agent reachability
System health events
failures

Comprehensive KPIs: all Diameter

Monitor interfaces
network Multi-level: System, Diameter interface
and agent
performance OSS ready: CLI, HDR, SNMP

Detailed transaction analysis

Capture/analysis of Diameter packets
Troubleshoot Extensive alarm and event logging
and diagnose Diameter debugging information
Reliable Diameter accounting

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 Core Diameter Routing Solution
Before
Core DSC
Universal Diameter agent
Online charging (OCS) Gy, Rf, Ro
QoS / policy (PCRF) Gx, Rx
Subscriber profile/AAA (HSS)
S6a, S6b, S6d, Swm
3GPP DRA and SLF functions
Connection aggregation,
routing & load balancing After
Overload control
Layer 3-5 interworking
Reporting and analysis
Benefits
Streamlined and scalable network
Improved network resiliency
Lower total cost of ownership
Faster time to market
Enhanced visibility and manageability

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 Data and VoLTE Roaming Solution
Comprehensive SIP and Diameter control across roaming
ecosystem
Edge DSC GSMA DEA functions
Access SBC Visited P-CSCF
I-SBC I-BCF/TrGW, TRF & IPX Proxy
Secure Diameter and SIP borders to assure service availability
End-to-end interworking

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 Services Federation Solution
Federated premium service delivery
Voice and unified communications
Messaging
Video
SIP and Diameter control
Interconnect DSC providing GSMA DEA functions
Interconnect SBC providing I-BCF/TrGW functions
Routing, securing, interoperating inter-network traffic
Subscriber profile AAA (HSS)
Online charging (OCS)
QoS/policy (PCRF)
Security at Diameter and SIP borders
Comprehensive L3-L5 interworking
Benefits
New business model and revenue share
Service/network availability
Rapid time to market

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 Lessons Learned

Diameter signaling is prominent in LTE and IMS

Device proliferation is only going to increase Data services + VoLTE

Transition from SS7 to Diameter poses wide array of challenges

Diameter signaling controllers scale, protect and simplify LTE

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