D. NGN architecture -NGN functional model Application Servers Management Servers Application/Managemen t Part Parlay/LDAP SNMP … Softswitches Session Part (Call control) MGCP Megaco/H.248 … Media Gateways Access Layer API - Application Programming Interface D. NGN architecture (Cntd.) Softswitch Application Server Network Management Server Services PSTN, GSM, ATM, ... Multiservice Access IP network Media Gateway Transport D. ITU-T NGN architecture (Y.1001) and corresponding protocols IP Network IW Functions PSTN/ISDN •Softswitch includes MGC, SG, Call Agent •Media Gateway is protocol converter •Media Gateway Controller is master controller of a media gateway •Intelligent Database - Network directory, ID/MGC Billing, Call records H.323/SIP/SIP-T/ SIGTRAN Intelligent Database (ID) . . ID/SG . API Parlay/OSA/LDAP Signaling Gateway (SG) SG/MGC MGC/MGC . . . CC7 ISUP (MTP) MG Controller (MGC) . MGC/MG MGCP/Megaco(H.248) . RTP Packet Flow (Voice/Data/MM) Media Gateway (MG) . TDM Flow (Voice) D. NGN architecture – possible NGN configuration Network Manager Application Server IB AAA SNMP RADIUS API (PARLAY/LDAP) Softswitch SIP/SIP-T H.323/BICC SG SIGTRAN SIGTRAN ISUP Switch SS7 STP PSTN/ISDN SIP SG SS7 ISUP/MTP Switch Softswitch Media Gateway Media Gateway Core IP Network (QoS) Н.323/ IP Network STP PSTN/ISDN MGC MGCP/Megaco/H.248 Gatekeeper/ Proxy Server SS7 • • • • • E. NGN building blocks Media Gateway - protocol converter Media Gateway Controller - master controller of a media gateway Softswitch = MGC + SG Signaling Gateway Application Server – Information Database (ID) Network directory, Billing, Call records, Authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) • Network Manager – Operation, Administration, Management (OAM); provides network elements’ management from a centralized web interface E. NGN building blocks (Cntd.) Application Server IB AAA АDSL POTS ISDN PRI V5.x Multiservice Access Multiplexer SOFTSWITCH •Signaling Gateway •Media Gateway Controller Gatekeeper (VoIP) Media Gateway Network Manager E. Main NGN building blocks (Cntd.) Media Gateway (IETF RFC 3015) Media gateway (MG) – protocol converter between different types of networks (Example – MG between circuit-switched voice network - TDM flows, and the IP network - RTP packet flows. MG processes incoming calls via requests to the Application Server using HTTP. The media gateway (MG) terminates IP and circuit-switched traffic. MGs relay voice, fax, modem and ISDN data traffic over the IP network using Quality of Service enabled IP technology. Media Gateway (IETF RFC 3015) • All types of traffic (voice, data, video) • Control (from Media Gateway Controller): MGCP, Megaco/H.248 • Interfaces: STM-1to transport network, E1 to PSTN; Eth-Fast/Gb to IP network • Voice Packetization/Compression (Codecs: ITU-T G.711, G.723.1, G.726, G.729A • Echo cancellation: ITU-T G.165, G.168 • QoS via DiffServ and ToS bits marking • Mapping addresses: E.164 IP address Softswitch Signaling Gateway Signaling Gateway (SG) offers a consolidated signaling interface - SS7 signaling point for the NGN platform. Also, SG supports a SIGTRAN interface (IETF SS7 telephony signaling over IP) as well as IP Proxy functions (SIP). Media Gateway Controller • • • • MGC acts as the master controller of a media gateway Supervises terminals attached to a network Provides a registration of new terminals Manages E.164 addresses among terminals Signaling Gateway Function •Several millions BHCA •Several hundreds controlled trunk ports •Control: MGCP, MEGACO, SIP •Signaling: ISUP, H.323, SIP, SIP-T, INAP, SIGTRAN •Mgmt: SNMP Транспортная сеть IP Signaling сигнализации IP IP Network SCTP/IP SIGTRAN SGW MTP ISUP Signaling Gateway Транспортная сеть SS7 Signaling сигнализации SS7 PSTN Application Server Application Server (AS) consists a number of modular application building blocks; server generates VoiceXML pages. (VoiceXML is a standards-based scripting language for developing voice-enabled software applications) The modular design of the next generation communications platform makes it easy to deploy enhanced services such as unified communications solutions, multimedia messaging services, and presence & availability management applications. Application Server Application Server generates application documents (VoiceXML pages) in response to requests from the Media Gateway via the internal Ethernet network. The application server leverages a web application infrastructure to interface with data stores (messages stores, user profile databases, content servers) to generate documents (e.g., VoiceXML pages). AS provide interoperability between applications like WAP, HTML, and voice allowing the end user to simultaneously input voice command and receive presentation via WAP or HTML. Parlay Parlay is an evolving set of specifications for industry-standard application programming interfaces (APIs) for managing network "edge" services: • call control • messaging • content-based charging. Parlay specifications are being developed by the Parlay Group, a consortium of member companies that include AT&T, BT, Cisco, IBM, Lucent, Microsoft, Nortel Networks, and others. Use of the Parlay specifications is expected to make it easier to add new cross-platform network applications so that users need not depend solely on the proprietary offerings of carriers. The Parlay Group is not a standards group itself, but sees itself as a facilitator of needed interfaces. Application program interfaces are or will be defined for: • • • • • • • • • • • • • Parlay Authentication Integrity management Operations, administration, and maintenance (OA&M) Discovery (of the closest provider of a service) Network control Mobility Performance management Audit capabilities Generic charging and billing Policy management Mobile M-commerce/E-commerce Subscriber data/user profile/virtual home environment (VHE) The Parlay APIs are said to complement and encourage use of the Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) protocols. Authentication, Authorization, Accounting (AAA) • Authentication, Authorization, Accounting (AAA) is a term for a framework for intelligently controlling access to computer resources, enforcing policies, auditing usage, and providing the information necessary to bill for services. These combined processes are considered important for effective network management and security. • As the first process, authentication provides a way of identifying a user, typically by having the user enter a valid user name and valid password before access is granted. The process of authentication is based on each user having a unique set of criteria for gaining access. The AAA server compares a user's authentication credentials with other user credentials stored in a database. If the credentials match, the user is granted access to the network. If the credentials are at variance, authentication fails and network access is denied. Authentication, Authorization, Accounting (AAA) • Following authentication, a user must gain authorization for doing certain tasks. After logging into a system, for instance, the user may try to issue commands. The authorization process determines whether the user has the authority to issue such commands. Simply put, authorization is the process of enforcing policies: determining what types or qualities of activities, resources, or services a user is permitted. Usually, authorization occurs within the context of authentication. Once you have authenticated a user, they may be authorized for different types of access or activity. Authentication, Authorization, Accounting (AAA) • The final term in the AAA framework is accounting, which measures the resources a user consumes during access. This can include the amount of system time or the amount of data a user has sent and/or received during a session. Accounting is carried out by logging of session statistics and usage information and is used for authorization control, billing, trend analysis, resource utilization, and capacity planning activities. • Authentication, authorization, and accounting services are often provided by a dedicated AAA server, a program that performs these functions. A current standard by which network access servers interface with the AAA server is the Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS). RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) is a client/server protocol and software that enables remote access servers to communicate with a central server to authenticate dial-in users and authorize their access to the requested system or service. RADIUS allows a company to maintain user profiles in a central database that all remote servers can share. It provides better security, allowing a company to set up a policy that can be applied at a single administered network point. Having a central service also means that it's easier to track usage for billing and for keeping network statistics. Created by Livingston (now owned by Lucent), RADIUS is a de facto industry standard used by a number of network product companies and is a proposed IETF standard. F. NGN protocols and mechanisms Signaling Protocols • H.323 • SIP • MGCP • Megaco/H.248 • SIP-T • SIGTRAN Mechanisms (QoS, Resource Allocation) • MPLS • IntServ • DiffServ VoIP protocols: 1. H.323, ITU-T • H.323 - first call control standard for multimedia networks. Was adopted for VoIP by the ITU in 1996 • H.323 is actually a set of recommendations that define how voice, data and video are transmitted over IP-based networks • The H.323 recommendation is made up of multiple call control protocols. The audio streams are transacted using the RTP/RTCP • In general, H.323 was too broad standard without sufficient efficiency. It also does not guarantee business voice quality VoIP protocols: 2. SIP - Session Initiation Protocol, IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) • SIP - standard protocol for initiating an interactive user session that involves multimedia elements such as video, voice, chat, gaming, and virtual reality. Protocol claims to deliver faster callestablishment times. • SIP works in the Session layer of IETF/OSI model. SIP can establish multimedia sessions or Internet telephony calls. SIP can also invite participants to unicast or multicast sessions. • SIP supports name mapping and redirection services. It makes it possible for users to initiate and receive communications and services from any location, and for networks to identify the users wherever they are. VoIP protocols : 2. SIP - Session Initiation Protocol, IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) (Cntd) •SIP – client-server protocol, Rq from clients, Rs from servers. Participants are identified by SIP URLs. Requests can be sent through any transport protocol, such as UDP, or TCP. •SIP defines the end system to be used for the session, the communication media and media parameters, and the called party's desire to participate in the communication. •Once these are assured, SIP establishes call parameters at either end of the communication, and handles call transfer and termination. •The Session Initiation Protocol is specified in IETF Request for Comments (RFC) 2543. VoIP protocols : 3. MGCP/Megaco/H.248 • MGCP - Media Gateway Control Protocol, IETF [Telcordia (formerly Bellcore)/Level 3/Cisco] • MGCP – control protocol that specifically addresses the control of media gateways • Megaco/H.248 (IETF, ITU) - standard that combines elements of the MGCP and the H.323, ITU (H.248) • The main features of Megaco - scaling (H.323) and multimedia conferencing (MGCP) SIP-T • SIP-T (SIP for telephones, previously SIP-BCP-T) is a mechanism that uses SIP to facilitate the interconnection of the PSTN with IP. SIP-T defines SIP functions that map to ISUP interconnection requirements. • This is intended to allow traditional IN-type services to be seamlessly handled in the Internet environment. It is essential that SS7 information be available at the points of PSTN interconnection to ensure transparency of features not otherwise supported in SIP. SS7 information should be available in its entirety and without any loss to the SIP network across the PSTN-IP interface. SIGTRAN • SIGTRAN (for Signaling Transport) is the standard Telephony Protocol used to transport Signaling System 7 signals over the Internet. SS7 signals consist of special commands for handling a telephone call. • Internet telephony uses the IP PS connections to exchange voice, fax, and other forms of information that have traditionally been carried over the dedicated CS connections of the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Calls transmitted over the Internet travel as packets of data on shared lines, avoiding the tolls of PSTN. SIGTRAN A telephone company switch transmits SS7 signals to a SG. The gateway, in turn, converts the signals into SIGTRAN packets for transmission over IP to either the next signaling gateway. The SIGTRAN protocol is actually made up of several components (this is what is sometimes referred to as a protocol stack): • standard IP • common signaling transport protocol (used to ensure that the data required for signaling is delivered properly), such as the Streaming Control Transport Protocol (SCTP) • adaptation protocol that supports "primitives" that are required by another protocol. SIGTRAN • The IETF Signaling Transport working group has developed SIGTRAN to address the transport of packet-based PSTN signaling over IP Networks, taking into account functional and performance requirements of the PSTN signaling. For interworking with PSTN, IP networks will need to transport signaling such as Q.931 or SS7 ISUP messages between IP nodes such as a Signaling Gateway and Media Gateway Controller or Media Gateway. Applications of SIGTRAN include Internet dial-up remote access and IP telephony interworking with PSTN. SCTP TCP transmits data in a single stream (sometimes called a byte stream) and guarantees that data will be delivered in sequence to the application or user at the end point. If there is data loss, or a sequencing error, delivery must be delayed until lost data is retransmitted or an out-of-sequence message is received. SCTP's multi-streaming allows data to be delivered in multiple, independent streams, so that if there is data loss in one stream, delivery will not be affected for the other streams. For some transmissions, such as a file or record, sequence preservation is essential. However, for some applications, it is not absolutely necessary to preserve the precise sequence of data. For example, in signaling transmissions, sequence preservation is only necessary for messages that affect the same resource (such as the same channel or call). Because multi-streaming allows data in error-free streams to continue delivery when one stream has an error, the entire transmission is not delayed. G. NGN as converged networks: concluding remarks PSTN Switch Switch Data networks Switch Switch Flexible bandwidth QoS Effective transmission Services SOFTSWITCH Voice services for IP-users VoIP