Failover Management
Diameter for Failover Management Use Case
Failover management is a basic requirement in today’s service provider environment. However performing failover management in 4G environment is very complex due to the growing number of network functionalities, data centers , multi-vendors , complex policy, charging and service schemes; all creating an unprecedented level of Diameter signaling,
What if…
GGSN simple client re-boots result in service failure?
GGSN client reboots in service provider environments should go unnoticed and leave traffic and availability unaffected. Sometimes service provider customers are experiencing the exact opposite.
The Problem:
In theory, a GGSN failover should not be a significant event, and should not cause service failure. However on the OCS side, this can become a problem. One service provider saw that in the few seconds when the subscribers were re-registering at the GGSN, the OCS was receiving millions of transactions. The OCS was unable to accept the transactions and ended up overloading. Subscribers were experiencing service interruption.
Download our PDF on Use Cases for the F5 Traffix Load Balancer.
Solution: Load Balancing in asynchronous messaging environments with the Traffix SDC Diameter Load Balancer
- The SDC Load Balancer diverts peak time transactions into several OCS nodes, avoiding a bottleneck on one OCS;
- In cases with one OCS, the Traffix SDC Diameter Load Balancer filters the traffic to prevent OCS overload. It informs the Diameter client side that some of the transactions are rejected and should be resubmitted based on an interaction between the load balancer and the GGSN only.
Next-generation cellular applications and smart phone usage consume tremendous wireless data capacity. Scaling the Control Plane to Load Balance Diameter Control Plane transactions is imperative to preserve revenue and ensure customer satisfaction.
The Traffix SDC Diameter Load Balancer is one of three solutions in the Traffix Signaling Delivery Controller (SDC), a native Diameter network entity. It was designed to support message-based load balancing, allowing for contextual load balancing in the Diameter Control Plane and resilience to failovers and traffic spikes. An important part of any control plane architecture, this technology supports the introduction of scalable and efficient Diameter-based NGN services.
Scaling the Control Plane with Traffix SDC Diameter Load Balancer
- Specifically designed for message-based load balancing
- Native Diameter entity to support contextual load balancing based on message, AVP or content
- Stateful/Stateless
- Diameter Relay Agent for Diameter Load Balancing
- Diameter Proxy Agent for AAA capabilities and policy enforcement
- Load Balancing resilience to cope with Diameter server and client failover
- Dynamic service monitoring technology to bypass bottlenecks and enhance performance
- Supports over 50 Diameter interfaces (3GPP Release 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, TISPAN, Packetcable) including non-standard attribute value pairs from leading industry vendors
