SS 7 and Sigtran Architecture

Sangwon Min Communication Protocol Engineering Lab. Dept. of Electronics & Communications Engineering Kwangwoon University

CPE Lab (http://cpe.kw.ac.kr)

Sangwon Min (min@kw.ac.kr)

Contents
SS No. 7 and DSS No.1
Features and protocol stacks Architecture ~ SSP, STP and SCP ISDN Q.931 and ISUP

Sigtran
Architecture and protocol stack Adaptation layer ~ M3UA, M2UA, M2PA, SUA, IUA, and V3UA SCTP

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Our Location in Study Flow for VoIP

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Efforts for Internet Telephony

Pre-commercial 96 PC-centric 99 Carrier-grade 06 - Commercial VoIP software on the market - Multimedia PC-to-multimedia PC with proprietary signaling R&D area Audio video conferencing over the Internet RTP PSTN interworking function

PC-to-PSTN service (Dialpad and Net2phone) Large-scale deploy NNI SIP v2 in 2002 Enum BICC SIP-T IPtel sigtran

Gateway decomposition

H.323 v1 In July 1996

H.323 v2 In 1998

Business area

H.323 v4 SIP v1 In late 2000 in 1999 MGCP Megaco/H.248 in 1999 in 2000

GCP in 2003

Gateway VoIP server VoIP phones Before 1999 1999~2002 After 2002 Signaling gateway

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CAS and CCS

Channel Associated Signaling (CAS)
The signaling path is the same path of the speech Examples R1 multi-frequency (MF) signaling in US R2 multi-frequency compelled (MFC) in Europe and Asia

Common Channel Signaling (CCS)

Separate paths between the call signaling and the bearer Possible to exchange messages when there is no call request Enables various service to be provided to the end-user Example ~ signaling system no. 7 (SS 7)

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Features of SS 7
Packet-switched network for connecting telephone calls Two types of services Circuit-related services ~ setup and teardown of voice connection in TDM networks or IP networks Non-circuit-related service ~ database access for translation Base for Intelligence Network (IN)/Advanced IN (AIN) SS7 ~ the foundation for IN services Caller-ID, toll-free calling, call screening, number portability, etc. Interworking with Internet Telephony Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs) for interworking with the public switched telephone network (PSTN) A user in Internet telephone ~ wants to use IN/AIN services Two distinct levels International plane : ITU-T National plane : ANSI in US
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Levels 1, 2 and 3 in SS 7 Protocol Stack

Message Transfer Part Level 1 (MTP 1)
Corresponding to OSI RM layer 1 Physical link ~ 56/64 Kbps or T1/E1 for high-speed link Signaling terminal ~ the physical termination of a signaling link

MTP 2
Deals with the transfer of messages on a given link Link status signal unit (LSSU) and fill-in signal unit (FISU) LSSU ~ to ensure alignment and correct link functions FISU ~ to acknowledge of received message or when no message is ready to be sent

MTP 3
Deals with routing signaling messages through signal transfer points (STPs) with message signal unit (MSU) Load sharing, rerouting and signaling management protocols
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Level 4 in SS7 Protocol Stack

Corresponding to OSI RM layer 4 ~ 7

ISDN User Part (ISUP)

For setting up and tearing down phone calls between switches Signaling messages ~ IAM, ANM and REL

Signaling Connection Control Part (SCCP)

Provides connection-oriented and connectionless services Provides an enhanced addressing mechanism Global title addressing

Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP)

Enables the management of transactions and procedures between remote applications Uses only connectionless signaling service of SCCP Supports many application parts ~ IN application part (INAP) and mobile application part (MAP)
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Signal Unit in MTP 2

User ~ MTP3 and MTP2 control between adjacent signaling points to maintain high reliability Fill-in signal unit (FISU) ~ to provide constant error checking on the link : corresponding to a keep-alive in TCP Link status signal unit (LSSU) ~ to transmit the link status to its adjacent node
Fill-in signal unit (FISU) BIB FIB flag 8 BSN 7 FSN 7 LI 6 spare 2 CRC 16 bits BIB : Backward indicator bit BSN : Backward sequence number CRC : Cyclic redundancy check FIB : Forward indicator bit FSN : Forward sequence number LI : Length indicator bits

Link status signal unit (LSSU) BIB FIB flag 8 BSN 7 FSN 7 LI 6 spare 2 status 8 or 16 CRC 16

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Signal Unit in MTP 3

Referred to as the Message signal unit (MSU) Two important fields : SIO and SIF Service information octet (SIO) To identify the protocol type at level 4 (ISUP, SCCP or TCAP) Indicates the ITU version or a national protocol (ANSI version) Signaling information field (SIF) To transfer control information and routing label used by MTP3 Be determined by the SIO ~ (ITU or a national protocol) and (ISUP, SCCP or TCAP)

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Details of SIFs
Origination point code (OPC) and destination point code (DPC) Signaling addresses of a MSU Signaling link selection (SLS) ~ indicates the particular signaling link to be used for carrying a MSU Message contents ~ ISUP, SCCP or TCAP
SIO and SIF in ITU MSU SIO 8 DPC 14 OPC 14 SLS 4 bits message content (variable length)

SIO and SIF inANSI MSU SIO 8

DPC member DPC cluster DPC network OPC member OPC cluster OPC network

SLS 8 bits

message content (variable length)

CIC : Circuit identification code DPC : Destination point code OPC : Origination point code SIO : Service information octet SLS : Signaling link selection

ISUP message CIC 12 spare 4 message type 8 bits message content (variable length)

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SS7 Network Architecture

Considered as a separate packet-switched network in the PSTN

Signaling Points
All nodes in the SS 7 ~has a unique address called a signaling point code (SPC) the capability to perform discrimination and route SS7 messages Three types : SSP, STP and SCP Service Switching Point (SSP) ~ a switch Signal Transfer Point (STP) Serves as a router in the SS 7 network Routes a message signal unit (MSU) based on the destination signaling point code (SPC) Service Control Point (SCP) Offers advanced features like a toll-free 800 number
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Protocol Stacks of Signaling Points

SCP SSP SSP STP STP SCP SSP SSP

SSP STP SSP STP

SSP SSP

ISUP

TUP

ISUP

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TUP

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ISUP and DSS1

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Next Topic
SS No. 7 and DSS No.1
Features and protocol stacks Architecture ~ SSP, STP and SCP ISDN Q.931 and ISUP

Sigtran
Architecture and protocol stack Adaptation layer ~ M3UA, M2UA, M2PA, SUA, IUA, and V3UA SCTP

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Mission of SG
Initiated by the H.323 gateway Case of ISUP emulation To the PSTN switch, an MGC ~ looks like a PSTN switch
MGC SG

NIF MTP part IP interworking part

ISUP SIG MTP MTP NIF NIF : Nodal interworking function IP

ISUP SIG IP

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Example of sigtran with SIP/SS7/Mecago

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Two Components for Sigtran Architecture

In RFC 2719 by L. Ong, et. al. in October 1999 Adaptation module ~supports specific primitives required by a particular signaling application Common signaling transport ~ supports the error-free, in-sequence delivery of application messages Applications do not realize that the underlying protocol is IP or MTP Uses the Stream control transmission protocol (SCTP)

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Protocol Stack
SCTP
A generic signaling transport protocol ~ to reliably carry various types of signaling traffic; the common signaling trasnport Ensures the error-free, in-sequence and fast delivery of messages Fast and simple like UDP Error-free and in-sequence like TCP

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V5.2 User Adaptation Layer (V5UA)

The V5.2 ~ an ETSI interface between an access network and a local exchange Supports analog telephone line, ISDN BRI and PRI The main purpose ~ an access concentrator with up to 16 E1 Port number : 5675
MGC SG V5.2

Access system
MG

V5.2
V5.2 V5UA LAPV5 Access interface at PSTN SCTP IP SG V5.2 V5UA SCTP IP MGC

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IUA and SUA

ISDN Q.921-User Adaptation Layer (IUA)
In ISDN, Q.931 (L3) is carried by Q.921 (L2) Q.931 messages ~ passed from the ISDN to the IP network Port number : 9000

SS7 SCCP User-Adaptation Layer (SUA)

In SS7, TACP is carried by SSCP Example : the user of TCAP ~ MAP or IS-41 The use of TCAP on the SS7 and the MGC Example : coloring server in the IP and users in PSTN Port number : 14001

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SS7 MTP2-User Adaptation Layer (M2UA)

MSU in MTP3 ~ transferred over SCTP and IP instead of MTP2 Provides services to MTP3 in the IP network The MGC has an MTP3 standard ~ transparent access at the MGC Capable of routing a MSU Prot number : 2904

MTP 1 2

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MTP 1 2

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SS7 MTP3-User Adaptation Layer (M3UA)

ISUP or SCCP ~ transferred over SCTP and IP instead of MTP2 Provides MTP3 user applications in the IP network Applications do not know the infrastructure of SS7 or IP Does not implement standard MTP3 management Port number : 2905

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SS7 MTP2 Peer-to-Peer Adaptation Layer (M2PA)

Provides adaptation between MTP3 and SCTP (port number: 14001) Preference than M2UA ~ the SG has MTP3 the SG has its own SPC The SS7 link between SG and MGC Preference than M3UA ~ the SG has MTP3 user Global title translation (GTT) by SCCP can be performed at SG
SG SS 7 MGC

MG MTP3 user MTP3 MTP2 MTP1 MTP3 user MTP3 M2PA SCTP IP MTP3 user MTP3 MTP2 MTP1

MTP3 user MTP3 MTP2 M2PA MTP1 SCTP IP

MTP3 user MTP3 M2PA MTP2 SCTP IP MTP1

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SG

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SCTP
Background ~ neither UDP nor TCP offered both the speed and reliability required to carry signaling traffic Upper layer protocol (ULP) such as M2UA or M3 UA

Terminologies
SCTP endpoint ~ a logical sender or receiver (one or more multiple IP address, a port number); transport address; multihomed ~ provides fault tolerance Association ~ a relationship established between endpoints Packet and chunks An SCTP packet over IP ~ compromise a common header and a number of chunks Streams ~ A one-way logical channel between SCTP endpoints A sequence of messages from one SCP user to another The number of streams is specified at the association establishment
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Relationship between Streams and Signaling Link

The physical signaling links from SS7 ~ to an SG The actual speech circuit from PSTN ~ to an MG
SG Signaling link Voice trunk (CIC) MGC SCTP association MGCP or Megaco/H.248

Steams and associations MG Between an SG and the MGC An association has n streams Physical signaling links vs. streams A particular signaling link ~ specified with a particular stream Streams ~ allocated according to OPC/DPC/CIC range or DPC/OPC/CIC combination Each stream is processed independently

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Robustness of SCTP
Meaning of robustness Procedures whereby failure or undesirable occurrence are minimized Capabilities to handle the event of failure or overload in the network without a significant reduction of quality Congestion control Path MTU discovery Multihoming with one or more addresses ~ fault tolerance Awareness of reachability SACK chunk if DATA have been sent HEARTBEAT if an association is idle

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SCTP Packet Format

source port number (16 bits) destination port number (16 bits) Validates the sender

verification tag (32 bits) Adler-32 checksum (32 bits) chunk ID (8 bits) chunk flags (8 bits)

chunk length (16 bits)

- User data chunk value - Control information - Reserved by the IETF - IETF-defined extenstions chunk ID (8 bits) chunk flags (8 bits) chunk value

chunk length (16 bits)

chunk ID (8 bits)

chunk flags (8 bits) chunk value

chunk length (16 bits)

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Chunk Types

Heartbeat ~ to query the reachability of a particular endpoint Abort ~ to make an endpoint to discard pending data to be handled Shutdown ~ to terminate an association Cookie echo ~ only during the initialization of an association (lifetime of cookie ~ default 5s)
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Association Establishment and INIT Chunk

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DATA Chunk

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SACK Chunk
chunk ID =0000 0011 (8 bits) chunk flags chunk length (16 bits) cumulative TSN ACK (32 bits) advertised received credit window (a_rcw) (32 bits) number of gap ack. Blocks = n (16 bits) gap ack block #1 start (16 bits) gap ack block #2 start (16 bits) gap ack block #n start (16 bits) -

number of duplicate TSNs = m (16 bits) gap ack block #1 end (16 bits) gap ack block #2 end (16 bits) gap ack block #n end (16 bits)

Duplicate TSN #1 (32bits) Duplicate TSN #2 (32bits) Duplicate TSN #n (32bits)

cumulative TSK ACK ~ the highest TSN value without any gaps 9ap block number ~ the offset of the first segment from the unbroken sequence
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Example of SACK and Termination

Example
cumulative TSN ACK= 2 number of gap ack. Blocks =3 gap ack block #1 start = 4 gap ack block #2 start = 7 gap ack block #3 start = 11 number of duplicate TSNs =3 gap ack block #1 end = 4 gap ack block #2 end = 9 gap ack block #3 end =13

Duplicate TSN #1 =6 Duplicate TSN #2 =10 Duplicate TSN #3 =14

Association termination

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References
D. Collins, Carrier Grade Voice over IP 2nd ed, McGraw Hill, 2003.

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