What is an SBC?

A look at the role of the

Session Border Controller

Alan D. Percy
alan.percy@telcobridges.com
November 2018

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What are the Risks?
• Extortion
• DOS / DDOS Attacks
• Registration Floods
• Malformed SIP Headers
• Call Floods
• Intrusion
• Network Scanning
• Account Hacking
• Theft of Services

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Agenda
Session Border Controllers
• What are they?
• How do they work?
• How are they used?
• Where to get free
SBC software?
• Where to learn more?

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Firewall = SBC?
“A SBC is just a Firewall for SIP, right?”

SIP
RTP

WAN LAN
Internet

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SIP Server = SBC?

Answer: No – SIP Servers don’t have a B2BUA and have

no media handling security

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Other Needs?
• SIP-aware Security RFC 3261

• Resolve SIP incompatibility

issues
• Convert media formats
• Facilitate call recording
• Measure voice/video quality
• Call Routing
• Billing By Korolev Alexandr

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What is a SBC?
Network
Border

Wide Area SIP SIP Local Area

Network SBC Network

• Anywhere two SIP networks intersect

• Software-based “Network Function”
• Most often between a WAN and a LAN
Topology Hiding
Network
Border

34.Y.Y.Y 10.X.X.X
Internet SBC
Application

“Back to Back User Agent”

B2BUA
DOS/DDOS/Intrusion Prevention
Network
Border

Internet SBC
Application

Detects and deflects

DOS/DDOS and Registration Floods
Encryption Demarcation
Network
Border

Service Encrypted Clear

Provider SBC
Application

Encryption of session control (SIP/TLS)

and/or media (SRTP)
NAT Traversal
SMB/Enterprise
SIP
Service Provider
192.x.x.x 34.x.x.x

IAD/Router
NAT
SBC
Application
Tasks:
 NAT Detection
 Address Translation
 NAT Pinhole Maintenance
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Media Services
Network
Border

Service G.729 G.711

Provider SBC
Application

• Codec conversion (Transcoding)

• Tones and Announcements
Law
Enforcement • Legal Intercept
• Voice quality measurement
SIP Interoperability
Network
Border

Service Service
Provider SBC Provider

Digit Manipulation SIP To: 555-1212 SIP To: +1 800 555-1212  Privacy enforcement

Privacy modification SIP From: Alice SIP From: Anonymous  Privacy enforcement

Custom header SIP X-Header : Op-A SIP P-Header: No-charge  Multi-vendor Compatibility

Protocol SIP SIP-I  Carrier Interoperability

conversion
Traffic Management & Routing

SIP Traffic
SBC

• Call Rate Limiting

• Load Balancing
• Route by called/calling #
• Route by availability
• External/Custom/Third-party Algorithms
How does a SBC work?
Functions of a Session Border Controller
• Security
• Intrusion Protection Session Border Controller
Functions
• “Line Rate” Inspection
• Topology Hiding Intrusion B2BUA Routing
Detection
• B2BUA Interoperability & Security

• Media Services
Media
• Routing/Traffic Mgmt.
• More…
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USE CASES

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Use Cases - Peering
Tasks:
 Call routing Retail Service Provider
 Mediation
 Billing functions
SBC
SoftSwitch
Wholesale VoIP Provider

SBC Billing

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Use Cases – Access
SMB/Enterprise
Service Provider

IAD/Router

SBC
Softswitch
Tasks:
 DOS/DDOS Protection
 NAT Traversal
 SIP Registration screening Billing
 Analytics and Billing
 QOS Monitoring & Reporting

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Use Cases – Redundancy
Tasks:
 Failure Detection
Service Provider
 Traffic Redirection and Routing
 Performance Measurement

SBC
Wholesale
Provider(s)

SBC

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Use Cases – CPaaS Providers
Cloud-based Communications Provider as a Service (CPaaS)

CPaaS
SBC
SIP Trunking
Provider(s)
Tasks:
 SIP Trunking Interoperability
 FQDN Mapping
 Intelligent Call Routing
 Media By-pass
 Cloud Hosted
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Emergence of the E-SBC
Service Provider SBC
• Protect service provider’s network
• High density / Large capacity
• Billing Interfaces
• NAT Traversal
• SIP Trunking and Access
• Central Office / Cloud Deployment
• 1+1 Redundancy
• Legal Intercept (CALEA)
• Wireline and Wireless SPs
• Sold through Systems Integrators
Enterprise SBC
• Protect enterprise’s network
• Low to medium density
• Quality of Service measurement
• Intrusion Protection
• UC or IP-PBX Interoperabililty
• Customer Premises (CPE)
• Lower cost
• SIPREC for Call Recording
• Mid-market and Enterprises
• Sold through Resellers/Channels
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Use Cases – E-SBC
IP-PBX / UC / Contact Center with SIP Trunking

SBC
UC or
Contact Center SIP Trunking
Provider(s)
Tasks:
 Security
 SIP Trunking Interoperability
 ANI/Caller-ID Substitution
 Cause Code Mapping
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Use Cases – E-SBC
IP-PBX / UC / Contact Center with SIP Trunking and Remote Users

SBC SBC
UC or
SIP Trunking
Contact Center Provider(s)
Tasks:
 Security
Work-at-home users
 SIP Trunking Interoperability
 Registration Forwarding

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DEPLOYMENT
METHODS

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SBCs “Back in the Day”

• SBCs were based on specialized

“purpose-built” hardware platforms
• Packet processing H/W
• DSP Modules
• DC Power
• High Availability in hardware

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Changing Economics
“Old Way” “Cloud Way”
Hardware-centric Software-centric
Proprietary appliances COTS Hardware, Virtual or Cloud
EOL Hardware Software-as-a-Service
Capital Expenditure + Maintenance “Pay-as-you-Grow”

TCO TCO

Years Years

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SBCs as Software
“Service providers have been deploying session
border controllers (SBCs) predominantly as
standalone devices, but by 2019 they will
increasingly implement SBCs as software in
virtualized environments and on commercial
servers…”, Diane Myers, IHS Markit
Source: IHS Markit’s IMS and SBC Strategies and Vendor
Leadership Service Provider Survey, September 2019

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SBC Deployment Models – COTS

• Highest performance and scale

• Most predictable performance
• Scales down to small CPE appliances
• Required dedicated hardware
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SBC Deployment Models - Virtualized

• Deployed in CPE, Data Center, Private and Public

Cloud

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SBC Deployment Models - VNF

• Deployed as a Virtualized
Network Function (VNF)
• Core of a Service Provider SBC
or
Edge of a SP network on
uCPE
• Managed by Orchestration
S/W

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SBC Deployment Models - Cloud
• “Pay as you Grow”
• Variety of platform choices
and operating systems
• Flexible scaling

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Introducing…

Learn more at: www.FreeSBC.com 32

Congratulations!

• You now know enough to

be dangerous!

• How do you continue

your knowledge?

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More on SBCs at The SIP School

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Learn More…

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Q&A
The SIP School
www.thesipschool.com
Free copy of SBC software:
www.freesbc.com
Other Recorded webinars at:
freesbc.com/video-library

Q/A?
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