SPS Solution Training

Question 1

SPS

Answer 1

Smart Plan Suite

SPS refers to a single instance that supports PCRF operation. For T-Mobile, we are using the SPS Policy module.

Question 2

SPS is made up of two VNFs

Answer 2

Service Manger (SM)
SPS and/or Managed Element (ME)

Question 3

Functions of SM

Answer 3

Service Manager (SM) provides the management functions for the installed SPSs.
Manages all MEs in the network.
Highly scalable frontend access to network of MEs.
Hosts GUI, Provisioning, and external API access.

Question 4

Functions of SPS

Answer 4

Policy application providing 3GPP PCRF capabilities.
Provides Diameter interface for network elements.
Highly customizable policies via Agile Rules Technology.

Question 5

What VMs comprise an SM?

Answer 5

SM App, OAME, IOHO, AUX, DB

Question 6

SM App

Answer 6

Responsible for hosting GUI, provisioning, and external API access.
N+K redundancy

Question 7

OAME

Answer 7

Pair of VMs working in Active-Standby operation.
Single point of contact for all OAME interactions such as logs, SNMP alarms, KPIs or scripts.
OAM VMs from both the SM and SPS Policy will connect to the T-Mobile NMNET network.
1+1 redundancy

Question 8

IOHO

Answer 8

Load balances the HTTP and TCP traffic for policy to the application nodes.
IOHO VM handles connection to LDAP DB.
1+1 redundancy

Question 9

AUX

Answer 9

Auxilary
Distributed key value store that provides a reliable way to store data on a cluster.
N+K redundancy

Question 10

DB

Answer 10

All persistent information is held in the database nodes (Aerospike NoSQL)
N+K redundancy

Question 11

What VMs comprise an SPS?

Answer 11

Diameter App, OAME, IOHO, AUX, DB, ComSvcs, IOHD, CDR

Question 12

Diameter App

Answer 12

Carries out all of the application processing logic for the policy component.
N+K redundancy

Question 13

ComSvcs

Answer 13

Common Services
Responsible for carrying out all the provisioning activities on SPS.
N+K redundancy

Question 14

IOHD

Answer 14

Control point of the SPS network and provides Diameter and RADIUS load balancing.
1+1 redundancy

Question 15

CDR

Answer 15

Stores all the Call Data Records (CDRs) generated by the SPS applications like call detail records, charging data records, and event data records.
N+K redundancy

Question 16

SM in SPS within regional network architecture

Answer 16

SM manages the entire network of SPS Policy nodes. Deployed in 1+1 active/active geo-redundant mode.

Question 17

SPS Policy nodes within regional network architecture

Answer 17

SPS Policy nodes are deployed in 1+1 active/active geo-redundant mode. This geo pair of ‘sites’ makes up a ‘region’.

Question 18

PLF provides three interfaces of interest:

Answer 18

Interface to SPS (REST/XML) on IOHO VM on SM.
LDAP interface to external clients (myAccount, IAM).
XML interface to external clients (NAP).

Question 19

PLF serves two functions for SPS:

Answer 19

• Receives LDAP queries and translates them to getIPCANSession REST API queries towards SM.
• Receives NAP (i.e. Ud) notifications from NAP and forwards to SM.

Question 20

Geo Redundancy

Answer 20

• SM and SPS are deployed in a mated-pair configuration.

* 1+1 (active/active) redundancy model.

Question 21

Geo Redundancy – Service Manager

Answer 21

• REST API or NAP notification can be sent to either SM site.
• SM will process the request and forward (if necessary) to the correct SPS site.

Question 22

Geo Redundancy – Communities

Answer 22

• A geo-community is a group of SPS servers (SMs and MEs)
• Each SM and ME is considered a member of the geo-community in the context of the heartbeat
• A single SPS region is shown. At T-Mobile, SM1/SM2 would belong to six different communities (one for each region)

Question 23

Geo Redundancy – Heartbeat (HB)

Answer 23

All sites in the community exchange HB over OAM network. ME’s have an additional HB over the DIAMETER network.

HB is used to communicate status about:
• An ME’s own connectivity and state
• An ME’s view of other known sites

Question 24

Geo Redundancy – Heartbeat (HB) - failure

Answer 24

• HB is used to determine whether an SPS site should take over for its peer (i.e. site failure)
• To confirm a geo-mate SPS is down:
○ ME HB’s to geo mate must be failed (OAM + Diameter)
○ Another member of the community in a different physical location must confirm that the geo mate is down (i.e. SM1 or SM2 in the example)

Question 25

One-NDS

Answer 25

An external SPR. It communicates with SPS via LDAP.