SS7 Protocol Stack

M3UA introduction PART 1 (ESIGTRAN)

What is m3ua & SIGTRAN?
› M3UA - Message Transfer Part 3 User Adaptation Layer

› There are two implementations of M3UA in CPP

– E-SIGTRAN (Ericsson-SIGnaling TRANsport)

– IETF Complient implementation

› SIGTRAN is the name, derived from SIGnaling TRANsport,
of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) working
group that produced specifications for a family of protocols
that provide data services over IP.
› E-SIGTRAN is simple Ericsson implementation of
SIGTRAN.

Ericsson Internal | Page 2

OSI, SS7 and SIGTRAN protocol stack
OSI Model SS7 Stack SIGTRAN Stack
I I
M M
N N
A A
A A
7 P P
Application P P
R B I R B I
6 Presentation A S T T A S T T
C S U C S U
5
N S U N S U
Session
A A A P A A A P
P P P P
4 P P P P
Transport

3 SCCP MTP-L3 SCCP M3UA

Network

2 Data Link MTP-L2 SCTP

1 Physical MTP-L1 IP

Ericsson Internal | Page 3

Why do we need m3ua?
› M3UA intended to move MTP3 user from SS7 to IP network without
changes in interface. Thus, there is no difference for user whether
underlaying layer is MTP3 or M3UA.

USER USER NIF USER

MTP3 SS7 MTP3 M3UA IP M3UA

SS7 IP

Ericsson Internal | Page 4

M3ua terminology
› Signalling Gateway (SGW) – is a node which has both MTP3 parts
and M3UA part. SGW is located on the border between SS7 and IP
networks and connects them. MTP3 and M3UA parts of a signalling
gateway communicate via Nodal Interworking Function (NIF).

USER USER
MTP3 SS7 SGW IP M3UA
SS7 IP

Ericsson Internal | Page 5

M3ua terminology
› Application Server Process (ASP) – is an M3UA node, located in the
IP network, which has a user part and is connected to an SG.

USER USER
MTP3 SS7 SGW IP ASP
SS7 IP

Ericsson Internal | Page 6

M3ua terminology
› IP Server Process (IPSP) – is an M3UA node, located in the IP
network, which has a user part and is connected to another IPSP.

USER USER
IPSP IP IPSP
IP

Ericsson Internal | Page 7

M3UA stack example

SEP SGW ASP

T I TCAP T I
C S C S
A U SCCP A U
P P NIF P P
SCCP M3 SCCP
MTP-L3 MTP-L3 M3UA M3UA

MTP-L2 MTP-L2 SCTP SCTP

MTP-L1 MTP-L1 IP IP

SS7
SS7 IP
IP

Ericsson Internal | Page 8

M3UA esigtran in cpp
› Physically located in scc_server_mp_lm (Scc_server_proc, CXC1720925)
› Administrative process is scc_adm_mp_lm (Scc_adm_proc, CXC1327798)
› Represented by one Managed Object:
– M3uAssociation
› E-SIGTRAN M3UA hides M3UA protocol and uses MTP3 management model.
For operators, E-SIGTRAN M3UA configuration looks very similar to MTP3
Narrowband and Broadband configuration. The difference is that a link set is
replaced with an M3UA association. An operator can block/deblock a route or
start/stop an M3UA association, and these actions internally mapped to M3UA
terms.

Alfa> pr M3uAssociation

100529-21:54:00 134.138.69.102 8.0g CelloMOM_MOM-CPP8-LSV59_iter9 stopfile=/tmp/26409

===================================================================================
Proxy MO
===================================================================================
1226 TransportNetwork=1,Mtp3bSpItu=sp-3221,M3uAssociation=m3ua-3221-2222-16
1366 TransportNetwork=1,Mtp3bSpItu=sp-1221,M3uAssociation=m3ua-1221-1222-17
1566 TransportNetwork=1,Mtp3bSpTtc=sp-4011,M3uAssociation=m3ua-4011-2012-8
===================================================================================
Total: 3 MOs
Ericsson Internal | Page 9
M3UA esigtran informational model

Mtp3bSp

Mtp3bAp

Mtp3bSrs

Mtp3bSpSr

Mtp3bSls M3uAssociation

Mtp3bSl

Mtp2HslTp NniSaalTp Mtp2Tp Sctp

Ericsson Internal | Page 10

 M3UAssociation
Alfa> get m3ua-1221-1222-17

100529-22:03:33 134.138.69.102 8.0g CelloMOM_MOM-CPP8-LSV59_iter9 stopfile=/tmp/26409

========================================================================================
1366 TransportNetwork=1,Mtp3bSpItu=sp-1221,M3uAssociation=m3ua-1221-1222-17
========================================================================================
M3uAssociationId m3ua-1221-1222-17
associationState 2 (ACTIVE)
autoStartAssociation true
congestionAlarmThreshold 50
dscp 0
localIpMask 3 (MULTI_HOMED)
localPortNumber 2905
mtp3bSrsId Mtp3bSpItu=sp-1221,Mtp3bSrs=srs-1221-1222
operationalState 1 (ENABLED)
remoteIpAddress1 192.168.3.117
remoteIpAddress2 192.168.3.118
remotePortNumber 2905
reservedBy [1] =
>>> reservedBy = Mtp3bSpItu=sp-1221,Mtp3bSrs=srs-1221-1222,Mtp3bSr=sr-1221-1222-1
role 0 (CLIENT)
sctpId Sctp=Alfa_sctp_17
userLabel m3ua-1221-1222-17
========================================================================================
Total: 1 MOs

Ericsson Internal | Page 11

M3UAssociation

M3uAssociation Scc_server_proc

Sctp Scc_SctpHost_proc

IpAccessHostGpb Iphost_proc

IP1 IP2

Ericsson Internal | Page 12

SCTP Association

M3uAssociation M3uAssociation

Sctp IP1 IP1 Sctp

IpAccessHostGpb IpAccessHostGpb

IP2 IP2

Ericsson Internal | Page 13

Interprocess communication
11 12

Scc_server_proc 4 Scc_adm_proc

GPB1
6 8 10 13 3
5 7

Scc_SctpHost_proc Scc_SctpAdm_proc

9 2
14

Ipac_iphost_proc Ipac_IpAdm_proc

15GPB2 1
CoreMp
Ericsson Internal | Page 14
 SGW Managment Mapping
› There is also one M3UA related object in MOM not
described in the standard:
– SgwMgmtMapping
› SMM is a feature provided by E/// in order to integrate IP
technology in the SS7 network with no impact on
thousands of old fashioned 2G nodes (like BSC)

Beta> get SMM-2221-5224

========================================================================================
=
1759
5224 TransportNetwork=1,Mtp3bSpItu=sp-7222,SgwMgmtMapping=SMM-2221-
========================================================================================
=
SgwMgmtMappingId SMM-2221-5224
destPointCode 5224
origPointCode 2221
userLabel SMM-2221-5224
========================================================================================
=
Total: 1 MOs
Ericsson Internal | Page 15
SMM Example
› Signaling Point Codes(SPC) for MPP and MSC should be equal in
order to deceive BSC. In this case BSC thinks that it still have direct
conenction with MSC without any intermediate nodes

BSC NB MPP IP MSC

SPC=100 SPC=200 SPC=200

MPP does not send managment messages

towards BSC, it stops the link instead. Thus
from BSC perspective it looks as conectivity
failure

Ericsson Internal | Page 16

Resume
› Benefits
– Perfectly fits in CPP MOM
– Easy to configure and understand
› Drawbacks
– Looks very far from the standard
– Not very flexible on M3UA level

Ericsson Internal | Page 17

M3UA esigtran troubleshooting
› Typical issues:
– Check SCTP and IP layers
– Wrong remote IP address
– Wrong local/remote port number
› Useful COLI comands:
– lhsh <lnh> rof_info_esig assoc_state
– lhsh <lnh> rof_info_esig assoc
– lhsh <lnh> rof_info_esig smm
– Ipac_ping –z <local IP> –d <remote IP>
– lhsh <lnh> sctphost –assoc –all –list
– lhsh <lnh> sctphost –ep –all
– sccadm_info assoc
› M3UA ESIGTRAN in CIV test networks
– CPP-B
– CPP-B-HCS
– CPP-4B
– CPP-4B-HCS
– RNC3820
– RNC-F

Ericsson Internal | Page 18

LINKS & references
› CPP MOM
› MAD: “Signalling System No.7”
› MTP3B & M3UA Functional Specefication
› M3UA ESIGTRAN PICS
› RFC4666: “Signaling System 7 (SS7) Message Transfer
Part 3 (MTP3) - User Adaptation Layer (M3UA)”

Ericsson Internal | Page 19