15 December 2023

EPC-LTE-0001
A

Procedure EPC Core MTU

Fortescue Integrated Technology

This document is protected by copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced or adapted without the consent of the
originator/company owner, all rights are reserved.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 PURPOSE...............................................................................................................................3
2 SCOPE.....................................................................................................................................3
3 DEFINITIONS........................................................................................................................3
4 PROCEDURE.........................................................................................................................4
5 GUIDELINES.........................................................................................................................4
5.1 VMWare ESXi Configuration Guidelines..................................................4
5.2 mONE and CRDL-DB Nodes OS-Level Configuration............................6
5.3 SAEGW Nodes OS-Level Configuration...................................................7
5.4 SAEGW MTU Configuration......................................................................8
5.5 APN Level Data Channel Configuration...................................................9
5.6 Active DPE Restart.....................................................................................9
6 ROLLBACK PROCEDURE...............................................................................................10

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Key Accountabilities...................................................................................................3
Table 2: Exclusions to Procedure............................................................................................3
Table 3: Definition of Terms/Acronyms....................................................................................3
Table 4: Procedure...................................................................................................................4
Table 5: mONE and DB Nodes................................................................................................6
Table 6: SAEGW Node Configuration......................................................................................7

EPC Core MTU EPC-LTE-0001 A

This document is uncontrolled when printed. Page 2 of 11
1 PURPOSE
This procedure is to describe the step to update the EPC data channel services
configuration to increase the MTU size for each APN from 1500 to 1600 bytes.

2 SCOPE
Table 1: Key Accountabilities
Role Responsibility
Review Document SME/LTE Solution Architect
Raising Change Request Support Engineer
Execution Mavenir/FMG EPC Engineer

Table 2: Exclusions to Procedure

Role Responsibility

Testing and Validation FMG Engineers

3 DEFINITIONS
Table 3: Definition of Terms/Acronyms
Word/Term Definition
Fortescue Metals Group Limited all subsidiaries and
Fortescue
employees.
APN Access Point Name
CLI Command Line Interface
DB Database
DPE Data Plane Engine
EPC Evolve Packet Core
GUI Graphical User Interface
HSS Home Subscriber Server
LTE Long Term Evolution
MME Mobility Management Entity
MTU Maximum Transmission Unit
PCRF Policy and Charging Rules Function
SAEGW System Architecture Evolution Gateway
VEM Virtual Element Manager

EPC Core MTU EPC-LTE-0001 A

This document is uncontrolled when printed. Page 3 of 11
4 PROCEDURE
This document is intended to be used by the application engineer performing the configuration
change. The process will require a restart of services in DPE. Although the impact is expected to be
within 5-6 secs outage, it is recommended to execute this change during maintenance window.

Table 4: Procedure
Responsibility Steps (Tasks) Refer Guideline
All 1. Pre-Planning Stage N/A
Support Enginner 2. Submit Change Request N/A
Fortescue EPC Engineer 3. Change MTU settings in VMware virtual
Section 5.1
switches and kernels.
Fortescue EPC Engineer 4. Change MTU settings in mONE and
Section 5.2
CRDL-DB nodes as per Table 5.
Fortescue EPC Engineer 5. Change MTU settings in SAEGW nodes
Section 5.3
as per Table 6.
6. Change MTU settings in SAEGW DPE
Fortescue EPC Engineer Section 5.4
configuration.
7. Change MTU seetings in APN level data
Fortescue EPC Engineer Section 5.5
channel.
Fortescue EPC Engineer 8. Active DPE restart Section 5.6
Fortescue Engineers 9. Testing and Verification N/A
Fortescue EPC Engineer 10. Fallback/Rollback Section 6

5 GUIDELINES
The guidelines below is to be followed and executed by users with the competencies listed as below:

 Have a good understanding of the Mavenir EPC setup.

 Familiar with UNIX, Linux system Administration procedures.
 Familiar with VMWare vCenter system Administration procedures.
 Familiar with mONE node and SAEGW software/platform architecture.
 Have root access privileges on the system.

5.1 VMWare ESXi Configuration Guidelines

Step 1: Login to VMware vCenter web GUI using the credentials below.
IP Address: LAB 10.231.96.124
CLB 10.249.96.124
CCM 10.247.96.124
IRB 10.247.96.124
Username: administrator@vsphere.local
Password: Mavenir@2001

EPC Core MTU EPC-LTE-0001 A

This document is uncontrolled when printed. Page 4 of 11
Step 2: Once logged in select EPC Server 1 as show below.

Step 3: Go to “Configure” tab and navigate to “Networking → Virtual Switches” and edit the MTU size
from 1500 to 9000 on both vSwitch0 and vSwitch1.
vSwitch0

vSwitch1

Step 4: Do the same with “VMkernel Adapters”

Vmk0 set to 9000 MTU

Vmk1 set to 9000 MTU

EPC Core MTU EPC-LTE-0001 A

This document is uncontrolled when printed. Page 5 of 11
Step 5: Repeat steps 1 to 4 for EPC Servers 2 to 4.

5.2 mONE and CRDL-DB Nodes OS-Level Configuration

Step 1: Using Mobaxterm or equivalent ssh to each mONE and CRDL-DB nodes (MME, HSS, PCRF,
CRDL-DB and CRDL-Admin) and set the interfaces as per table below:

Table 5: mONE and DB Nodes

mONE and DB Node Name Interface Name ($int) MTU Size $mtu
bond0 9000
bond1 9000
eth2 9000
MME1 and MME2
eth3 2000
eth4 9000
eth5 2000
bond0 9000
bond1 9000
PCRF1 and PCRF2 eth2 9000
*eth3 9000
*eth4 2000
bond0 9000
bond1 9000
HSS1 and HSS2 eth2 9000
*eth3 9000
*eth4 2000
eth0 9000
CRDL-DB1 to CRDL-DB4 eth1 9000
eth2 9000
eth0 9000
eth1 9000
CRDL-ADM1 and CRDL-AMD2
eth2 9000
eth3 9000

EPC Core MTU EPC-LTE-0001 A

This document is uncontrolled when printed. Page 6 of 11
Step 2: Use the command below to set the MTU setting at runtime for each interface.
ip link set mtu $mtu $int

Step 3: Use the command below to set the MTU permanently in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
echo "MTU=\"$mtu\"" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-$int

* For PCRF and HSS interface eth3 and eth4 we need to create a the file in network-scripts
folder with the following lines:

Eth3: Eth4:
DEVICE=eth3 DEVICE=eth4
BOOTPROTO=none BOOTPROTO=none
ONBOOT=yes ONBOOT=yes
TYPE=Ethernet TYPE=Ethernet
MTU="9000" MTU="2000"

5.3 SAEGW Nodes OS-Level Configuration

Step 1: Using Mobaxterm or equivalent ssh to each SAEGW nodes (CDF, ) and set the interfaces as
per table below:

Table 6: SAEGW Node Configuration

mONE and DB Node Name Interface Name ($int) MTU Size $mtu
eth0 9000
CDF1 and CDF2 eth1 9000
eth2 9000
eth0 9000
CPE1 and CPE2 eth1 9000
eth2 9000
eth3 2000
DPE1 and DPE2
eth6 2000
eth0 9000
SDB1 to SDB4 eth1 9000
eth2 9000
eth0 9000
EIF1 and EIF2 eth1 9000
eth2 9000
eth0 9000
VEM1 and VEM2 eth1 9000
eth2 9000

Step 2: Use the command below to set the MTU setting at runtime for each interface.
ip link set mtu $mtu $int

EPC Core MTU EPC-LTE-0001 A

This document is uncontrolled when printed. Page 7 of 11
Step 3: Use the command below to set the MTU permanently in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
echo "MTU=\"$mtu\"" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-$int

5.4 SAEGW MTU Configuration

This configuration should be done in SAEGW application using the the active VEM node. This stage is
not service impacting.

Hold Point:
Backup current configuration before making any changes using the command below, this backup
config will be use in the rollback procedure if needed.

Log in to active VEM, go to configuration mode using “enable”→”configuration”. In configuration mode

back up config using the command save “saegw-$date-backup.cfg”.

Step 1: Using Mobaxterm or equivalent ssh to active VEM, go to saegw configuration page using the
command “su – admin” →”enable”→”configure”.

Step 2: Check data-plane current configuration using the command “show data-plane-services all”

Step 3: Go inside the data-plane service 1 configuration.

Step 4: Remove s1u binding for gtpu using the command below.
“no gtpu bind s1u-sgw ipv4 10.$xxx.156.4”

Step 5: Delete s1u interface using the command below:

“no interface ipv4 s1u”

Step 6: Re-create s1u interface with new MTU value of “2000” using the command below:
“interface ipv4 s1u address 10.$xxx.156.4 mask 28 ethernet-port 3 mtu 2000”

Step 7: Bind s1u interface to gptu using the command below:

“gtpu bind s1u-sgw ipv4 10.$xxx.156.4”

Step 8: Remove s5sgw binding for gtpu using the command below.
“no gtpu bind s5/8-sgw ipv4 172.29.103.194”

Step 9: Delete s5sgw interface using the command below:

“no interface ipv4 s5sgw”

Step 10: Re-create s5sgw interface with new MTU value of “2000” using the command below:
“interface ipv4 s5sgw address 172.29.103.194 mask 27 ethernet-port 4 mtu 2000”

Step 11: Bind s5sgw interface to gptu using the command below:
“gtpu bind s5/s8-sgw ipv4 172.29.103.194”

Step 12: Remove s5pgw binding for gtpu using the command below.
“no gtpu bind s5-pgw/gn ipv4 172.29.103.226”

EPC Core MTU EPC-LTE-0001 A

This document is uncontrolled when printed. Page 8 of 11
Step 13: Delete s5pgw interface using the command below:
“no interface ipv4 s5pgw”

Step 14: Re-create s5pgw interface with new MTU value of “2000” using the command below:
“interface ipv4 s5pgw address 172.29.103.226 mask 27 ethernet-port 5 mtu 2000”

Step 15: Bind s5pgw interface to gptu using the command below:
“gtpu bind s5-pgw/gn ipv4 172.29.103.226”

Step 16: Remove sgi binding using the command below.

“no sgi-endpoint sgi”

Step 17: Delete s1u interface using the command below:

“no interface sgi”

Step 18: Re-create s1u interface with new MTU value of “2000” using the command below:
“interface ipv4 sgi address 10.$xxx.156.84 mask 28 ethernet-port 6 mtu 2000”

Step 19: Bind s1u interface to gptu using the command below:
“sgi-endpoint bind intf sgi”

Step 20: Correction of overloaded value for uplink and downlink peak data rate.
From config mode go in tdf-service configuration using the command “tdf-service”
Correct the values by executing the following command below:
“rule-base name RB”
“flow-rate-limit direction downlink peak-data-rate 4294967295 burst-size 1 violate-action drop”
“flow-rate-limit direction downlink peak-data-rate 4294967295 burst-size 1 violate-action drop”

5.5 APN Level Data Channel Configuration

This configuration should be done in SAEGW application using the the active VEM node. This stage is
not service impacting.

Step 1: Using Mobaxterm or equivalent ssh to active VEM, go to saegw configuration page using the
command “su – admin” →”enable”→”configure

Step 2: Go to each APN configuration and execute the below command:

“apn $apn-name”
“data-tunnel mtu 1600”

5.6 Active DPE Restart

This step is service impacting with estimated loss of 4 secs S1U traffic. This will need to be
executed during maintenance window.
Loging to active DPE1 and restart services, this will interrupt the data traffic for a short
period of up to 5 seconds as tested in lab.
HOLD POINT:
Wait for 10 minutes before moving to next step.

EPC Core MTU EPC-LTE-0001 A

This document is uncontrolled when printed. Page 9 of 11
Once the DPE failed to standby log in to the other DPE(now active) and restart services to
fail back traffic to DC1(assuming DC1 is carrying the traffic during normal operation.)

6 ROLLBACK PROCEDURE
Step1: Login to one of the SDB nodes and navigate browser to SDB GUI to Buckets→vcmFcapsDb
click "Flush" button as shown below:

Step 2: Login to both VEMs, kill vcmMs (pkill vcmMs), they should be restarted with empty config.
Confirm vcmMs are restarted using the command “ps-ef | grep -i vcmms”.

Step 3: Log in to active DPE and restart services using the command “vcm-restart”. This will interrupt
the traffic up to 4 seconds as tested in the LAB.

HOLD POINT:
Wait for 10 minutes before moving to next step.

Step 4: Log in to the other DPE(now active) and restart services using the same command above.

Step 5: Change back VM MTU setting in OS Level.

Step 6: Change back ESXi MTU settings in Virtual Switch and VMKernel adapters on every server.

EPC Core MTU EPC-LTE-0001 A

This document is uncontrolled when printed. Page 10 of 11
DOCUMENT CONTROL

EPC Core MTU

Status IFR - Issued for Review 21-Dec-23
Summary of Changes A

Author Chrisopher Galicinao

Signature

Checked or Squad
Review# Renante Prescilla/Richard Serra
(if applicable) Signature

Approved Ryan Bradford

Signature
Next Review Date
28-Dec-23
(if applicable)

EPC Core MTU EPC-LTE-0001 A

This document is uncontrolled when printed. Page 11 of 11