A Light Reading Webinar

Service Quality:
The Role of Session Management
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Moderated by

H. Paris Burstyn
Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading
Sponsored by:

Agenda
Introduction Guaranteeing SIP Service Delivery (Radware) Data Control & QoS in IP Networks (Data Connections) Session Managements Role in IMS Environments (Brix Networks) Summary Q&A

Speakers
Amir Zmora
Product Specialist Radware
AmirZ@Radware.com

Jonathan Cumming
Director of Product Mgt., Network Protocols Division Data Connection Ltd.
jonathan.cumming@dataconnection.com

Philip B. Powell
Director of Product Management Brix Networks/EXFO Service Assurance
ppowell@brixnet.com

IMS Philosophy
Vertical Integration Any Application Session Control Any Access & Transport Any Access Device
CSCF, MRF, BGCF

Converged Networks

Converged Services

IP/MPLS Core

Radware
Amir Zmora Radware
AmirZ@Radware.com

Introducing Radware
Application delivery vendor providing
Full availability Maximum performance Complete security

Address mission-critical carrier & enterprise applications Leverage experience & technology to guarantee SIP service delivery Founded in 1997; public since 99; 600 employees

The Evolution of Traditional LBs

In the mid 90s Web service availability solutions were part of the Web server/application logic Requirements and environment changed:
Traffic increased Applications became mission-critical New security threats introduced

Result was factoring out of availability, scalability, and security solutions to an external LB component

SIP is today where HTTP was in the late 90s

SIP Load Balancing in Software

Static traffic distribution prefix, destination, service
Maintenance intensive, sub-cluster planned for peak

Call dispatching first message goes through dispatcher, following messages are direct
Complicated logic within dispatcher No recovery from mid-call failures

Traffic broadcasting
Broadcasting & hash-based decisions (MS-NLB)

More Challenges of Current Solutions

Repetitive development work for each application Solutions are under application scope and not factored out Complex and inefficient HA model Global disaster recovery not addressed

ITU-OCAF 3-Tiered SIP Load-Balancing

Simplified & Standard Solution

OCAF Open Communication Architecture Forum CGOE Carrier Grade Open Environment (Rec. Y.CGOE)

The Role of the Load-Balancer Component

Health monitoring Local / global traffic distribution Active-active / active-backup server activation Global disaster recovery Built-in load-balancer redundancy (state synch) Service IP virtualization (DNS SRV) Security GW HTTP load-balancing for converged applications

The Role of the SIP Proxy

Simplifies application integration (outbound proxy vs. default GW) Rule-based SIP routing SIP application layer persistence Transport agnostic (UDP/TCP/TLS) Transport conversion and traffic acceleration

Complex Routing Scenario Example

UA-A Local Network
Re gi st er

Persistence mapping based on Contact header

Server Farm
S1 S2

SIP-ADC

UA-B

Peering Network

ite v In

Persistent routing based on To header

S3

Complex Routing Scenario Example

UA-A Local Network
In vit e

Persistent routing based on From header

Server Farm
S1 S2

SIP-ADC

UA-B

Peering Network

S3

Complex Routing Scenario Example

UA-A
In Loc Challenge vit e The LB needs to perform routing & persistence based on al SIP rules and message content SIP Only an LB that functions as a SIP Proxy will Net support this Directo UA-B work Peering r

Server Farm
S1 S2 S3

Network

SIP-ADC Target Applications

SIP Application Servers voice mail, voice & video conf, IVR, ring-back tone, MS, presence/location services, call centers Core Network Solutions IMS x-CSCF and softswitches SIP Border Elements SBC clusters, media gateways, trunk gateways

Summary: SIP-ADC Characteristics

Ensures the reliable delivery of SIP services in carrier environment through simplified integration providing: High availability Scalability & performance Interoperability Flexibility & simplicity Security Reduced time-to-market Factors out operational, architectural & development capabilities

Data Connection
Jonathan Cumming Data Connection Ltd.
jonathan.cumming@dataconnection.com

Data Connection (DCL)

DCL provides portable protocol software for system vendors

Products & Customers

IP Routing
BGP OSPFOSPF-TE ISISISIS-TE RIP PIM IGMP

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06

Revenue & Profit

Profit Total Revenue

MPLS
MPLS RSVPRSVP-TE LDP VPNs VPLS

Optical
GMPLS O-UNI/NNI E-NNI LMP

VoIP / IMS
SIP Megaco/H.248 MGCP Diameter SBC

ATM
PNNI SVCs UNI IISP ILMI

SNA/APPN
SNA/IP SNAPSNAP-IX HIS Applications

$m

450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 81 83 85 87 89 91 93 95 97 99 01 03 05 07

Employees

The Need for Session Control

sh ar

Voice

Video

in

Do

Fi

le

What gets dropped? What gets delayed?

Trusted Core

QoS Requirements
1M
Bandwidth / bps

Video Telephony Remote Desktop Email

File Transfer

64K

G.711

Telephony
8K G.729a 200 400 600 800
Round-trip latency / ms

Implementing Access Control

Classification Policy Enforcement
Untrusted Access

Network Edge Labeling & Routing

Weighted Queuing

Trusted Core

Drop unauthorized

Drop to limit bandwidth

IP/MPLS - Dynamic or static LSPs

- Aggregated flows

Ethernet - Over-provisioned links

QoS for Media Sessions

Identification of authorized media flows
Media separate from signaling

Authorization based on bandwidth

Monitoring of actual bandwidth use

SBC identifies and controls session-based traffic to enable network prioritization and prevent congestion
SIP signaling Media over QoS links
Session Border Controller

SIP signaling

Untrusted Access

Media

Trusted Core

SBC Deployment Models

Distributed SBC Untrusted Network e.g. DSL over ATM SIP signaling Media
Media Proxy

H.248 control
Signaling Proxy Call Agent/ Softswitch

SIP SIP SIP

SIP signaling

Media

Trusted Core
SIP signaling

SIP SIP SIP

Signaling Proxy

Call Agent/ Softswitch

SIP signaling
Media Proxy

Media Untrusted Network e.g. Ethernet

Media

Integrated SBC

QoS Is One of Many SBC Roles

Regulatory
Lawful intercept Emergency service Access Control Privacy Topology hiding Encryption NAT & firewall traversal Protocol interworking Transcoding Protocol repair

Connectivity

Call accounting Policy-based call routing

Services

Security

Session Border Control in IMS

HSS AS

Service or Application Plane

IMS Signaling IMS Media S-CSCF P-CSCF MGCF

CSCF I-CSCF / THIG I-BCF / ALG BGCF

NASS

RACS / PDF MRF

Signaling or Control Plane

SGW

PSTN

MRFC MRFP Broadband IMS-MGW IPv4 / IPv6 Network

Access

WLAN GPRS/ UMTS

BAS / A-BGF / PDG / GGSN

IPv4/ IPv6 Core

I-BGF / TrGW

Transport or User Plane

Session Managements Role In IMS Environments

Philip B. Powell
Brix Networks/EXFO Service Assurance
ppowell@brixnet.com

About Brix Networks

Global provider of open and extensible converged service assurance solutions
Allow the worlds largest service providers and enterprises to offer reliable and high-quality experiences in voice, video, data, and mobile services

Proven heritage of IP expertise unique to the service assurance marketplace Integrated software and hardware products that assure the delivery of any IP-based service, over any network, to any endpoint Recently acquired by EXFO

OSS in Todays Networks

Traditional network
CDR generation in call context
Call length in minutes Features available to the subscriber
Voice mail, call forwarding, call waiting

Data transfer in kbit/s

Session defined by amount of data transferred

Reporting completed by network elements

SS7 network elements, softswitches

Reporting validated by signal monitoring systems

CDRs fed to OSS/BSS systems

OSS in the IMS Transition

CDR metrics continue to be required for network management
Call & data plans continue to be sold on minutes & bytes downloaded as network transitions

Additional metrics must be reported and validated

Sessions may include multiple instances of todays services Additional information will come from new architecture
SCIM, CSCF, SBC, media server, app server New protocols will standardize delivery of billing data
Diameter protocol eliminates OSS system connectors

Looking Beyond Signaling For Billing & Mediation

Merging of voice, video & data traffic requires reporting of new metrics Signaling information continues to be valuable, but only part of the service delivery puzzle Media quality information is essential
Introduces the concept of an end-user service-level agreement (SLA) as a billing methodology Guaranteed quality of the service being delivered based on measurements of the actual media traversing the network

Media Quality Challenges

Media routing is dynamic
SBCs provide a single point of network access Gateways provide network transitions Media servers provide in-network resources

Appropriate measurements are still in definition

Mean Opinion Score (MOS) for voice Media Delivery Index (MDI), Media Quality Index (MQI), Video Quality Index (VQI) for video Latency, loss, jitter for data

Delivery method for these measurements leverages existing standards

RFC 3611 RTCP-XR SNMP SIP & Diameter transport mechanisms

Assuring the Service

Quality-of-service metrics are key in the IMS architecture
Overall user experience must be measured for all services used Correlated view of signaling & media is required to capture the quality of the session Network elements must report standard metrics for mediation Endpoints will be leveraged for future service validation
Mobile phones, converged devices, ATAs, STBs

Common algorithms must be used to calculate defined QoS metrics

Service Assurance Challenges In the IMS transition

Customer place shifting
Devices will be entering through various connection methods & access points
ATA taken on the road

Services are expected across all devices

VOIP services through mobile Web interfaces

Feedback from quality assurance system must be used to adjust service delivery to an endpoint
Carrier network should leverage IMS network elements to adjust bandwidth & QoS levels for highest quality & SLA management User expectations must be managed as new billing systems & customer SLAs are initiated

Additional Considerations
Service assurance in IMS goes beyond fault management & availability
Passive monitoring of the network allows a view of service quality Feedback mechanisms between systems will allow adjustments of network treatment on a per-session basis Customer expectations based on new SLAs will challenge traditional billing methods Customer lifecycle management is key to effective service delivery

Service Assurance
Executive-level reporting
IMS pilots are being tracked closely at executive level and need consolidated views of network health and quality

SLAs will range from carriers to end users

Core-to-edge service guarantees and proof of service availability and quality are vital Individual QoS will be tracked and guaranteed

Network operations and network engineering

Many points of access will need to be monitored
Applications running for a user may not be in the same network as the user

Network sizing and requirements for new service launch must be validated, monitored, and fixed Devices will be enabled through standards to report on quality

Audience Poll
Which session management device(s) do you plan to integrate/deploy in the next 12 months?
SIP load balancer Session border controller Session/service monitor All of the above Two of the three None of the above

Q&A