OAA000009 SIGTRAN Protocol Principle

ISSUE 2.0

Fixed Network Curriculum Development Section

Objective
After this session, you will learn:
Functions and structures of SIGTRAN protocols

Commands

of

each

protocol

of

SIGTRAN protocol stack

Meanings and usage of the parameters in commands

Message interaction process of each

protocol
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References

Product Manual -- Technical Manual -- Signaling and

Protocols Chapter 2 SIGTRAN

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About this session

Section 1 Overview Section 2 SCTP Protocol Section 3 M2UA Protocol Section 4 M3UA Protocol

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Definitions of SIGTRAN Protocols

SIGTRAN is

a protocol stack rather than a protocol. It includes

transmission protocol (SCTP)
adaptation protocols (M2UA and M3UA).

SIGTRAN supports transmission of SCN (Switched Circuit Network) signaling via IP network.

SIGTRAN is responsible for the communication between SG and MGC, with such two functions as

adaptation

transmission
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SIGTRAN Protocol Stack Structure

M3UA M2UA IUA M2PA V5UA SUA

SCTP IP MAC

M3UA: MTP3 User

M2UA: MTP2 User

IUA: ISDN Q.921 User

Adaptation layer
M2PA: MTP2 Peer

Adaptation layer
V5UA: V5 User

Adaptation layer
SUA: SCCP User

Adaptation layer
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Adaptation layer
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Adaptation layer
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Section 1 Overview

SIGTRAN Applications in SoftX3000 Terms Protocol Structure

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SIGTRAN Applications in SoftX3000

Signaling stream Media stream SIGTRAN SG

SS7

H.248
PSTN

IP core network

SoftX3000
TMG

Switched Circuit Network

Packet Switched Network

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Section 1 Overview

SIGTRAN Applications in SoftX3000 Terms Protocol Structure

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Terms

MG

MGC
SG

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Section 1 Overview

SIGTRAN Applications in SoftX3000 Terms Protocol Structure

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Protocol Structure in SoftX3000

When SoftX3000 uses M2UA of the SIGTRAN protocol stack to connect with SG:

SEP
ISUP MTP3

SG

IP

SoftX3000
ISUP MTP3

MTP1-2

M2UA MTP SCTP 1-2 IP MAC

M2UA SCTP IP MAC

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Question

What are the main functions of SIGTRAN? What protocols are used to realize these functions?

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Answer

The main functions of the SIGTRAN protocol stack are transmission and adaptation. The transmission function is

realized via SCTP while the adaptation

function is realized via M2UA and M3UA protocols.

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Brief Summary

SIGTRAN is a protocol stack that mainly includes three

protocols: SCTP, M2UA and M3UA.

The SIGTRAN protocol stack is responsible for the communication between SG and MGC, with such two functions as adaptation and transmission .

In NGN softswitch system, SIGTRAN is used to bear and adapt interworking between SS7 of SCN and IP network softswitch control system, acting as a bridge for signaling conversion.

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About this session

Section 1 Overview Section 2 SCTP Protocol Section 3 M2UA Protocol Section 4 M3UA Protocol

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SCTP Overview

SCTP(STREAM CONTROL TRANSMISSION PROTOCOL) is a reliable datagram transmission protocol based on the protocol providing unreliable transmission services, such as IP.

The SCTP is designed to transmit PSTN signaling messages over the IP network.

SCTP improves some defects of TCP.

The design of SCTP includes proper congestion control, flooding

prevention, disguise attack and support to better real-time performance and multi-homing attribute.

The SCTP is usually regarded as a transmission layer protocol,

whose upper layer is SCTP user application

lower layer is packet-switched network (for example, IP network).
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SCTP Overview

Transport address and IP address:

A transport address of SCTP is

IP address : SCTP port number.
SCTP port number is used for the identification of the users at the same address, and it is identical to the concept of TCP port number.

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Overview SCTP Terms

Host

EndPoint1 P O RT 1
IP A d d r e s s 1 IP A d d r e s s 2

Host and endpoint:

SCTP

User 1

User 2

P O RT 2

EndPoint2

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About this session

Section 1 Overview Section 2 SCTP Protocol Section 3 M2UA Protocol Section 4 M3UA Protocol

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Concepts

M2UA ---- SS7 MTP2-User Adaptation Layer Protocol

is a protocol for the transport of SS7 MTP2 user signaling

messages (MTP3 messages) over IP using SCTP or any other suitable transport protocol.

Used between Signaling Gateway (SG) and Media Gateway Controller (MGC).

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Concepts

SEP

SS7

SG

SIGTRAN

MGC

ISUP MTP3 MTP2 MTP1

PSTN
MTP2 MTP1 M2UA SCTP IP

IP

ISUP MTP3 M2UA SCTP IP

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Concepts
Name Interface ID Description
Used in the communication between the two ends of M2UA. It can be text or integer. Each interface ID corresponds to one actual physical link: An interface is the logical ID of an SS7 signaling link used between SG and ASP.

Application server

A logical entity representing certain resources and corresponding to a

specific routing context. For M2UA, AS is a group of Interface IDs.

Every AS includes a set of ASPs, and one or more of which can process traffic

Application Server

ASP is a process instance of an AS. Each ASP contains one SCTP endpoint, and can serve a number of ASs. In the M2UA application, ASPs work in the active/standby mode, and only the active ASP processes traffic.

Process

Signaling Backhaul

It refers to transfer of non-local signaling from the interface connecting with the data stream (i.e. the SG function of MGU) back to the call
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Item -- M2UA Link

M2UA LINK: t

The logical connection established between SG and ASP.

A Link consists of SG, ASP and SCTP associations between SG and ASP.

Its state corresponds to ASP state and SCTP association state

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Item -- M2UA Link

SCTP assoc 0 MTP2 link 0 MTP2link 1 MTP2 link 2 MTP2 link 3 SCTP assoc 1

ASP0 AS0 ASP1 ASP2 AS1

MGC

AS0 includes MTP2 link0 and link 1

MG/SG0

SCTP assoc 2

SCTP assoc 3

ASP3

AS1 includes MTP2 link2 and link 3

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Item -- M2UA Link

MGC
MTP2 link 0 MTP2 link 1 MTP2 link 2 MTP2 link 3 M2UA LINK 0(servered for MTP2 link 0and link1)

AS0 AS1

MG/SG0

M2UA LINK 1(servered for MTP2 link 2and link3)

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Item -- M2UA Function

Support for MTP2/MTP3 interface boundary that enables

a seamless, or as seamless as possible, operation of the

MTP2 users in the PSTN and IP network.

Support for management layer communication between SG and MGC.

Support for management of SCTP association between SG and MGC.

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About this session

Section 1 Overview Section 2 SCTP Protocol Section 3 M2UA Protocol Section 4 M3UA Protocol

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Section 4 M3UA Protocol

Overview

Services provided by M3UA

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Concepts

M3UA is

the SS7 MTP3 user adaptation layer providing the primitive communication service for the MTP3 user in the IP network and MTP3 at the network edge

interworking between TDM SS7 and IP .

M3UA supports the following functions:

SS7 SPC presentation

Routing function
Interworking between SS7 and M3UA Congestion management

SCTP stream mapping

Client/server model
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Concept Architecture of M3UA Protocol

M3UA M2UA IUA M2PA V5UA SUA

SCTP IP MAC

M3UA: MTP3 User

M2UA: MTP2 User

IUA: ISDN Q.921 User

Adaptation layer
M2PA: MTP2 Peer

Adaptation layer
V5UA: V5 User

Adaptation layer
SUA: SCCP User

Adaptation layer
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Adaptation layer
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Adaptation layer
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Concept -- M3UA Application

M3UA application in SGP-ASP mode:

S E P S G M G C

S S 7 I P

M T P U s e r N I F N I F

M T P 3 M T P 3 M 3 U A M 3 U A

M T P 2 M T P 2 S C T P S C T P

M T P 1 M T P 1 I P I P I P

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M3UA Application
M3UA application in IPSP-IPSP mode:

I P M G C

M G C

Ue s e r U s r

M 3 U AA M 3 U SS CP T C P T

I PI P
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Section 4 M3UA Protocol

Overview

Services provided by M3UA

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Services provided by M3UA

Support for the transport of MTP3 user messages

Local management functions

Interworking with MTP3 network management function Support for the management of SCTP associations

between SGP and ASPs

Support for the management of associations to multiple SGPs

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Summary of the Chapter

SIGTRAN is a protocol stack consisting of SCTP, M2UA and M3UA. SIGTRAN itself is not a protocol

Compared with TCP and UDP, SCTP has lots of advantages in reliability, security and real-time performance, and it supports

multi-homing feature. SCTP is used as the bearer transport

layer of M2UA and M3UA.

M2UA and M3UA are used as the IP adaptation layers of MTP2 and MTP3 respectively, and are used for interworking between

SCN and IP network. The upper layer user of M2UA is MTP3 and
the further upper layer user is ISUP, while the very upper layer user of M3UA is ISUP directly. MTP2 needs no signaling point while MTP3 must have its own signaling points.

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