Signaling System No.7 Protocol Architecture And Sevices part 26 ppsx

Summary ISUP provides a rich network interface to call processing at an SSP The increased bandwidth and protocol standardization allow a greater range of services that are able to interwork both within a network and across network boundaries ISUP was designed to interface well with ISDN access signaling by providing event mapping and facilitating end-to-end user signaling The protocol's use of optional message parameters achieves flexibility and extensibility ISUP uses a CIC identifier in each message to correlate the signaling with the correct circuit The CIC is the key to associating signaling with bearer circuits ISUP also provides a set of maintenance messages for diagnostics and maintenance of ISUP facilities These messages allow for blocking, testing, and resetting circuits and inquiring about circuit status < Day Day Up > < Day Day Up > Chapter Signaling Connection Control Part (SCCP) The Signaling Connection Control Part (SCCP) is defined in ITU-T Recommendations Q.711-Q.716 [58–63] and for North American markets in ANSI T1.112 [2] SCCP sits on top of Message Transfer Part (MTP3) in the SS7 protocol stack The SCCP provides additional network layer functions to provide transfer of noncircuit-related (NCR) signaling information, application management procedures and alternative and more flexible methods of routing NOTE Technically, SCCP can also transfer circuit-related signaling information; however, this is an exception As shown in Figure 9-1, the combination of the MTP, and the SCCP is termed the Network Service Part (NSP) The NSP follows the principles of the OSI reference model, as defined in Recommendation X.200 [99]; as such, it provides a subset of the Layer services, which are defined in Recommendation X.213 [100] Figure 9-1 SS7 Stack with the Network Service Part (NSP) Highlighted SCCP was developed after the MTP, and together with the MTP3, it provides the capabilities corresponding to Layer of the OSI reference model Because SCCP is OSI Layer compliant, in theory it can be transmitted over any OSI-compliant network Because the MTP was originally designed to transfer call-control messages coming from the Telephony User Part (TUP), it was, therefore, designed to transfer only circuit-related signaling In combination with the MTP, the SCCP can transfer messages that are not circuit-related These messages are used to support services such as toll-free calling, Local Number Portability (LNP) and Completion of Calls to Busy Subscribers (CCBS) in Intelligent Networks and mobility, roaming, and SMS in cellular networks SCCP provides the following additional capabilities over the MTP: • • • • • Enhances MTP to meet OSI Layer Powerful and flexible routing mechanisms Enhanced transfer capability, including segmentation/reassembly when message is too large to fit into one Message Signal Unit (MSU) Connectionless and connection-oriented data transfer services Management and addressing of subsystems (primarily database-driven applications) SCCP is used extensively in cellular networks Base Station Subsystem Mobile Application Part (BSSMAP) and Direct Transfer Application Part (DTAP) use it to transfer radio-related messages in Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) In conjunction with Transfer Capabilities Application Part (TCAP), SCCP is also used throughout the GSM Network Switching Subsystem (NSS) to transport Mobile Application Part (MAP) signaling between the core GSM components to enable subscriber mobility and text messaging (SMS), among other items For example, when the Visitor Location Register (VLR) queries the Home Location Register (HLR) to obtain the subscriber's profile, SCCP is responsible for transferring both the query and the response back to the VLR For more information about GSM, see Chapter 13, "GSM and ANSI-41 Mobile Application Part (MAP)." Cellular intelligent network protocols, Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN), and Customizable Applications for Mobile Enhanced Logic (CAMEL) also use SCCP with TCAP (see Chapter 10, "Transaction Capabilities Application Part [TCAP]") to provide intelligent network functionality in a cellular environment Figure 9-2 shows a typical cellular protocol stack, as found at a GSM-MSC Figure 9-2 Typical SS7 Stack Used in GSM Networks Fixed-line networks primarily use SCCP for intelligent network applications and advanced supplementary services Fixed-line intelligent networks use Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) within North America and Intelligent Network Application Protocol (INAP) outside of North America (see Chapter 11, "Intelligent Networks [IN]") AIN/INAP both use SCCP's transport, application management, and enhanced routing functionalities Two example supplementary services that require the use of SCCP include CCBS and Completion of Calls on No Reply (CCNR) This chapter looks at the functions of SCCP in some detail, beginning with an outline of the SCCP architecture and then moving onto protocol classes, connectionless and connection-oriented procedures, SCCP management functions, and most importantly, SCCP routing, including the use of global titles < Day Day Up > < Day Day Up > SCCP Architecture As shown in Figure 9-3, SCCP is composed of the following four functional areas: • • • • SCCP connection-oriented control (SCOC)— Responsible for setting up and releasing a virtual connection between two SCCP users SCOC can offer features including sequencing, flow control, and segmentation and can override congestion procedures by assigning data priority The section, "SCCP Connection-Oriented Control (SCOC)" describes SCOC in more detail SCCP connectionless control (SCLC)— Responsible for transferring data between SCCP users without creating a virtual connection SCLC is described in the "SCCP Connectionless Control (SCLC)" Section In addition to segmentation, it can perform limited sequencing SCCP routing control (SCRC)— Provides additional routing beyond that offered by MTP3, through the use of global titles The "Global Title Routing" section fully explains global titles SCCP management (SCMG)— Responsible for tracking application status and informing SCMG at other SCCP nodes, as necessary It is described later in this chapter in the section, "SCCP Management (SCMG)." Figure 9-3 The SCCP Architecture The term SCCP Users refers to the applications that use SCCP's services These are primarily database-driven applications Such applications use the services of TCAP described in Chapter 10 for peer application layer communication and the services of SCCP for managing the transport of messages between those applications Applications that use the services of SCCP are known as subsystems < Day Day Up > < Day Day Up > SCCP Message Transfer Services The SCCP provides two categories of service for data transfer: connection-oriented services and connectionless services Within each service category, two classes of service are defined as follows: • • • • Class 0— Basic connectionless class Class 1— In-sequence delivery connectionless class Class 2— Basic connection-oriented class Class 3— Flow control connection-oriented class Connection-oriented Versus Connectionless Services The analogy of sending letters and postcards best explains the difference between the connection-oriented and the connectionless services The postal service carries out the physical transfer and is therefore analogous to MTP Connection-oriented service is much like the exchange of formal letters When you send a formal letter, you might assign a reference to it—"Our Reference X." When the receiving party responds, they might also assign their own reference to the letter and also copy the sender's reference—"Your Reference X." From that point on, both parties state their own and each other's assigned reference SCCP connection-oriented service uses the same principles; the "Our Reference" is known as the Source Local Reference (SLR), and the "Your Reference" is known as the Destination Local Reference (DLR) This is similar in principle to Transmission Control Protocol (TCP): data is sent only when a virtual connection has been established through the initial exchange of identifiers Figure 9-4 illustrates this principle Figure 9-4 Analogy of Connection-oriented Service with Official Mail Correspondence Connectionless service is like sending postcards, where the sender and recipient not establish references In principle, it is similar to User Datagram Protocol (UDP): data is sent without first establishing a virtual connection using identifiers NOTE SCCP transfers the data using the signaling network for transport Trunks are not involved User Data and Segmentation The data (from subsystems) is sent in information elements called Network Service Data Units (NSDUs) SCCP provides the capability to segment or reassemble an NSDU that is too large to fit in a single MTP message (MSU) so that it can be transmitted over a number of MSUs (16 maximum) When using the connectionless classes, if an NSDU is greater than 255 octets when using a UDT message or 254 when using a XUDT message, the originating node splits the NSDU into a number of XUDT messages For a description of UDT and XUDT messages, see section "Message Types" and refer to Appendix C, "SCCP Messages (ANSI/ETSI/ITU-T)." If an NSDU is greater than 255 octets when using the connection-oriented classes, the originating node splits the NSDU into several DT messages The receiving node reassembles the NSDU For a description of the DT message, see the section on "Message Types" and refer to Appendix C Theoretically, the maximum amount of user data is 3952[1] octets in ITU-T SCCP [58-61] and [2] 3904 octets in ANSI SCCP This excludes optional parameters and global titles, which will appear to be repeated in each message The ITU-T recommends using 2560 as the maximum NSDU size as a safe implementation value [16] because it allows for the largest global title and numerous optional parameters The section on "SCCP Routing Control (SCRC)" covers global titles [1] 3952 = (254 - 7) * 16, where 254 is the user data length fitting in one XUDT, 16 is the maximal number of segments and is the length of the optional parameter: "segmentation" is followed by the end of the optional parameters octet [16] The parameter Protocol Class within each SCCP message specifies the protocol class Before giving a further explanation of connectionless and connectionorientated procedures the following sections discuss the four classes of data transfer that SCCP provides Connectionless Protocol Classes Class provides a basic connectionless service and has no sequencing control It does not impose any conditions on the Signaling Link Selection (SLS) values that MTP3 inserts; therefore, SCCP messages can be delivered out of sequence Class can be considered a pure connectionless service See Chapter 7, "Message Transfer Part (MTP3)," for information about the SLS field Class service adds sequence control to the Class service by requiring the SCCP to insert the same SLS field for all NSDUs that have the same Sequence Control parameter The higher layers indicate to SCCP whether or not a stream of NSDUs should be delivered in sequence Therefore Class is an enhanced connectionless service that provides basic in sequence delivery of NSDUs Failures at the MTP level can still result in messages being delivered out of sequence TCAP is the typical user of SCCP connectionless services The other user is Base Station Subsystem Application Part (BSSAP), which is used solely for GSM cellular radio related signaling See Chapter 3, "The Role of SS7," for a brief description of BSSAP Although the applications (subsystems) use TCAP directly, they are considered SCCP users because TCAP is considered transparent See Chapter 10 for more information about TCAP NOTE Common subsystems include Local Number Portability (LNP), Customizable Application Part (CAP), MAP, INAP, and AIN Table 9-1 shows the connectionless service protocol classes and features Table 9-1 Connectionless Service Protocol Classes Protocol Class and Name Features Example Use Protocol Class 0: Basic Connectionless Independent message transport, no sequencing Some BSSMAP messages (Paging), TCAP Protocol Class 1: Connectionless Service Independent message transport, limited sequencing TCAP Connection-oriented Protocol Classes Class provides a basic connection-oriented service by assigning local reference numbers to create a logical connection Messages that belong to the same connection are assigned the same SLS value to ensure sequencing Class does not provide flow control, loss, or missequence detection Class is an enhanced connection-oriented service that offers detection of both message loss and mis-sequencing (for each connection section) Class also offers flow control using an expedited data transfer function The ETSI European SCCP standard, ETS 300-009 [10], offers support for Class only from V1.4.2 (November 1999) onwards The ITU-T had specified a Class 4, but this was never implemented on live networks and was later removed in White Book editions Table 9-2 shows the connection-oriented service protocol classes and features Table 9-2 Connection-oriented Service Protocol Classes Protocol Class and Name Features Example Use Protocol Class 2: Basic Connection-oriented Service Logical signaling connection used for message transport Some BSSMAP messages (Setup) Protocol Class 3: Connection-oriented Service Logical signaling connection used for message transport, and flow control (expedited data transfer) No known current use SCCP Connectionless Control (SCLC) SCLC is used to provide the capabilities that are necessary to transfer one NSDU in the "data" field of a UDT, Long Unit Data (LUDT), and XUDT message For a description of SCCP messages, see section "Message Types" and Appendix C The SCLC routes the message without regard to the route that the messages follow through the network These services are provided without setting up a logical connection SCLC formats the user data into a message of the appropriate protocol class (0 or in the case of connectionless) and transfers it to SCRC for routing The section on "SCCP Routing Control (SCRC)" describes SCRC On receiving a message, SCLC is responsible for decoding and distributing the message to the appropriate subsystem Figure 9-5 shows data transfer using SCLC: data is simply sent without the prior establishment of references at each side Figure 9-5 The Transfer of Connectionless Messages from One SCCP User to Another SCCP Connection-Oriented Control (SCOC) SCOC is used to route messages through a specific, fixed logical network path To establish a dedicated logical connection between an originating SCCP user (subsystem) and a terminating SCCP user (subsystem), the SCCP users residing at different nodes throughout the network communicate with each other A signaling connection between the SCCP users is established, making both SCCP users aware of the transaction by using the DLR and SLR parameters The signaling connection is released at the end of the transaction (information transfer) This is similar to SS7 protocol TUP/ISUP, which is used to control telephony calls, in that a connection is setup and released at a later time However, the connection is virtual; there is not a trunk with user traffic being set up and released—rather, there is a virtual connection over the signaling network for the purpose of data transfer between applications (subsystems) NOTE SCCP connection-oriented services (Class and Class 3) are virtual connections between users of the signaling system and bear no relation to connections between subscribers (trunks) Connection-oriented procedures can be split into three phases: • Connection Establishment Phase— The SCCP users set up a logical, fixed path that the data packets will follow The path might involve only two or • • three nodes with SCCP capability or, depending on how many intermediate nodes exist between the originator and terminator, it might involve a much larger number Data Transfer Phase— After the connection is established, the data that is to be transferred is converted into an NSDU and sent in a DT1 or DT2 message For a description of SCCP messages, see the section on "Message Types" and Appendix C Each NSDU is uniquely identified as belonging to a specific signaling connection In this way, it is possible for the SCCP to simultaneously handle independent signaling connections Connection Release Phase— After all NSDUs have been transmitted and confirmed, either or both of the user applications that initiated the process release the logical path A release can also occur if the connection fails An example of a connection-oriented data transfer is carried out in Figure 9-6 At the request of the SCCP user, SCCP A establishes a logical connection by sending a Connection Request (CR) message to SCCP B and assigning a SLR to the request The remote node confirms the connection by sending a Connection Confirm (CC) message and includes its own SLR and a DLR that is equal to SCCP A's SLR This gives both sides a reference for the connection Figure 9-6 The Transfer of Connection-oriented Messages from One SCCP User to Another Using a Temporary Connection The CR message contains the address of the destination SCCP node and user The subsequent data message DT1 only needs to send the DLR because the logical connection has been established through the proceeding exchange of SLR and DLR The clear-down messages contain both SLR and DLR If intermediate nodes are involved, they make associations between pairs of SLR/DLRs to establish the logical connection Upon release, the SLR/DLR references are available for further use on other transactions SCCP nodes can establish multiple simultaneous logical connections through the use of the SLR and DLR In Figure 9-5, if SCCP B received a CR message and either the SCCP B or the SCCP A could not establish the connection, a Connection Refused (CREF) message would have been returned Classes and (discussed previously) can either establish temporary connections (that is, on demand by SCCP user), as shown in Figure 9-5, or permanent signaling connections that are established by management action Temporary connections are analogous to dialup connections, and permanent connections are analogous to leased lines The connection establishment and release services are not required on permanent connections   ... Application Part (CAP), MAP, INAP, and AIN Table 9-1 shows the connectionless service protocol classes and features Table 9-1 Connectionless Service Protocol Classes Protocol Class and Name Features... Management and addressing of subsystems (primarily database-driven applications) SCCP is used extensively in cellular networks Base Station Subsystem Mobile Application Part (BSSMAP) and Direct... networks and was later removed in White Book editions Table 9-2 shows the connection-oriented service protocol classes and features Table 9-2 Connection-oriented Service Protocol Classes Protocol