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A P P L I C A T I O N N O T E

Service-aware IP management for the

Ultimate Wireless Packet Core

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Abstract

Long Term Evolution (LTE), such as realized in the Alcatel-Lucent Ultimate Wireless Packet Core,represents much more than an upgrade to the wireless network. It means the convergence of themobile and supporting transport layers into an all IP-based network. This transformation posessignicant operational challenges to mobile operators. Maintaining a high-quality customerexperience within an all-IP network requires operators to respond quickly to the dynamic nature

of IP-based services with a network management environment designed to support them.

In particular, operating an all-IP network for advanced mobile services requires powerful networkmanagement capabilities that are aware of services end-to-end. Such an efcient network managementsystem is crucial to containing the networks total cost of ownership, optimizing asset usage, andstreamlining multi-technology network operations.

Alcatel-Lucent offers precisely the kind of service-aware network management system required forthe Ultimate Wireless Packet Core. With the seamlessly integrated 5620 Service Aware Manager(SAM) and 5650 Control Plane Assurance Manager (CPAM), Alcatel-Lucent provides a scalablesolution which meets the next-generation IP management challenges of new mobile networks whileminimizing the cost of network operations.

This paper details how the advanced conguration, assurance, performance monitoring, andsecurity management capabilities of the 5620 SAM and 5650 CPAM allow cost-effective, end-to-end management of the Ultimate Wireless Packet Core, the wireless backhaul, and the underlyingIP/MPLS transport network.

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Table of contents

1 1. Introduction

1 2. Ultimate Wireless Packet Core network management

2 3. Advanced route and path management

3 4. Conguration management

3 Control plane bearer deployment

4 Conguration policy audits

4 5. Fault management

4 Mobile and transport layer assurance

4 EPS path visualization

6 OAM test management

6 Cross-layer (Mobile/IP transport) path correlation

7 IP reachability monitoring

7 6. Performance management

9 7. Security management

9 8. OSS integration

9 9. Conclusion

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Service-aware IP management for the Ultimate Wireless Packet Core | Application Note 1

1. Introduction

Alcatel-Lucent Ultimate Wireless Packet Core solves the investment dilemma facing mobile operatorsby providing a single, converged mobile packet core that supports both LTE Evolved Packet Core(EPC) and 3GPP packet core functionality. The result is a service-aware, all-IP core network thatsimultaneously addresses the immediate requirements of delivering 2.5/3G services, as well as themore stringent control and data plane requirements of LTE. By supporting mobile broadband

services that use any 3GPP radio access technology (GERAN, UTRAN, E-UTRAN), the UltimateWireless Packet Core gives operators both a scalable, high-performance 3GPP core that addressesexisting capacity constraints and the exibility to migrate to LTE at their own pace.

Network management will play a key role in the success of LTE, and mobile operators must lookbeyond traditional element and network management solutions to manage the service volumesand complexities of their new mobile networks. Existing, and often manual, processes are slow anderror prone, driving up operations costs; reactive problem detection leads to longer outages anddissatised customers; and integration with existing systems and processes is expensive and time-consuming, making it extremely difcult to protect existing investments.

The Alcatel-Lucent 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM) frees mobile operators from the traditional

boundaries of element and network management, offering advanced assurance and provisioningcapabilities designed for the complexities of all-IP networks. When combined with the 5650 ControlPlane Assurance Manager (CPAM), the 5620 SAM provides advanced troubleshooting capabilitiesthat integrate physical, routing, and service topologies, simplifying fault isolation and thereby mini-mizing service interruptions. The 5620 SAM also provides exible, automated conguration andprovisioning tools that reduce the possibility of human error. Equipped with powerful, standards-based OSS interfaces, the 5620 SAM easily adapts to existing OSS environments for faster andmore cost-effective integration.

2. Ultimate Wireless Packet Core network management

The Alcatel-Lucent 5620 SAM, with the 5650 CPAM, provides comprehensive element and

end-to-end IP management for the Alcatel-Lucent Ultimate Wireless Packet Core (SGW, SGSN/MME, PCRF, PGW/GGSN) and mobile backhaul (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. IP management for the Alcatel-Lucent Ultimate Wireless Packet Core and mobile backhaul

UTRAN

UMTS, HSPA

E-UTRAN

LTE

GERAN

GPRS, EDGE

SGW

5620 SAM,

5650 CPAM

SGSN/MME PCRF

Ultimate Wireless

Packet Core

Mobile backhaul

PGW/GGSN

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This document outlines the capabilities and benets of service-aware network management in thecontext of LTE/EPC. These include:

Conguration management, allowing coordinated deployment of conguration data acrossnetwork elements operating at both the mobile and transport layers

Multi-layer performance management, enabling aspects of self-optimization for the EPCand transport layer

Multi-layer fault correlation and root cause analysis, simplifying fault isolation and recovery Visualization of the inter-domain relationships (between mobile services and underlying

IP/MPLS transport layer), enabling operators to understand the interactions between layersand easily isolate/resolve network issues

Comprehensive SLA monitoring that proactively detects and isolates SLA violations withinany layer of the network

End-to-end assurance coordinated across all network layers, further easing fault isolationand resolution

Management of multiple backhaul strategies employed in both LTE and 2G/3G mobile environments

Coordinated security infrastructure, providing operator scope and span of control

A single GUI, simplifying service introduction and reducing training requirements

XML-based northbound interfaces, facilitating integration with higher level OSS/BSS systems

3. Advanced route and path management

A signicant portion of service failures, provisioning problems, and troubleshooting delays can bedirectly attributed to IP control plane misconguration, undetected routing topology changes, andthe lack of simple management tools that reveal the control planes impact on network services. Theseoperational inefciencies can lead to a number of business problems for mobile service providers.

Operational inefciencies make it difcult both to provide consistent quality of service delivery andto meet strict service level agreements (SLAs) that can differentiate service offerings. Inefciencies

can also make it impossible to scale network operations cost-effectively, such as when networkoperators must rely on scarce in-house IP routing experts to manually resolve Layer 3 infrastructureprovisioning problems caused by routing plane misconguration.

The Alcatel-Lucent 5650 CPAM provides multivendor IP/MPLS route and path analytics, closing thegap in IP/MPLS control plane management. The 5650 CPAM simplies management of dynamicIP/MPLS networks, offering scalable, proactive detection and rapid resolution of control plane issues.

The 5650 CPAM is tightly integrated with the Alcatel-Lucent 5620 SAM, giving service providersthe industrys rst and only fully integrated platform for service-aware element, network, service, andcontrol plane management of IP/MPLS networks. By leveraging its integration with the 5620 SAM,the 5650 CPAM provides simplied diagnosis and intuitive visualization of the relationship between

the mobile service layer and the IP/MPLS transport layer.

With the 5650 CPAM, network operators can overlay layer 2 and 3 services, MPLS tunnels andservice validation traces on the control plane topology map to visualize multiple layers in a singleand integrated view.

The 5650 CPAMs multi-layer, cross-domain capabilities are based on real-time, multivendor controlplane information provided by the Alcatel-Lucent 7701 Control Plane Assurance Appliance (CPAA).The 7701 CPAA is a route-listening and route-processing hardware device that non-intrusivelyparticipates in routing plane signaling in order to obtain details about control plane topology andthe operational status of all routers in the network, including third-party devices. The operating

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system in the 7701 CPAA is based on Alcatel-Lucents proven and continuously evolving ServiceRouter Operating System (SR OS).

The balance of this paper describes the capabilities of the Alcatel-Lucent 5620 SAM and Alcatel-Lucent5650 CPAM and their combined deployment for the end-to-end management of the Ultimate WirelessPacket Core and underlying IP/MPLS transport layer.

4. Conguration management

The 5620 SAM GUI-based interface provides access to all network elements from a single managementpoint in the network. Intuitive forms support conguration of all aspects of the Ultimate WirelessPacket Core elements and simplify provisioning. The 5620 SAM allows for increased automationthrough provisioning templates and policies that signicantly accelerate provisioning while greatlyreducing provisioning errors.

Control plane bearer deployment

Figure 2 illustrates the 5620 SAMs multi-platform capabilities in this case, dening the behaviorof S5 paths between multiple serving and PDN gateways.

Figure 2. 5650 SAM control plane configuration

The conguration forms shown above dene global policies on the 5620 SAM that control thebehavior of GTP running over S5 paths between S and P gateways. Once the denition is set, thepolicy is dispatched to an operator-dened set of gateway nodes and applied locally to the S5 pathendpoints on the target nodes. If the operator subsequently changes one or more parameters in theglobal policy, this change is automatically dispatched to the network elements using this policy,updating local copies of the policy. Using policies to dene conguration parameters speeds networkturn-up and ensures consistent behavior across a desired set of network elements.

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Conguration policy audits

The 5620 SAM provides a conguration policy audit capability, which allows operators to verifydeployed congurations in the network against congurations dened by 5620 SAM policies. The5620 SAM compares the master conguration rules stored in the 5620 SAM database with theconguration deployed on managed network elements, identifying discrepancies and allowingoperators to correct (or accept) the discrepancy.

The 5620 SAMs northbound interface allows OSS access to all congurable items of the UltimateWireless Packet Core elements, enabling optional ow-through provisioning.

5. Fault management

The 5620 SAM provides a complete fault management solution for all network layers, including:

Intelligent alarm creation based on events generated by the MME, SGW, PGW, PCRF, theeNodeB data plane, and transport layer network elements (These alarms are stored in a centralalarm log and are also associated with the alarmed object e.g., a S5 control plane bearer held within the 5620 SAM, allowing operators easy access to an objects alarm state)

An alarm correlation function which relates alarms and events to transport layer and dependent

Evolved Packet System (EPS) paths in the mobile service layer (EPC and e-UTRAN), allowingoperators to quickly and easily understand the root cause of a fault in the network

These capabilities allow operators to quickly identify in which network layer the fault occurred,isolate what physical and logical elements were affected, and determine the cause of the fault andhow to resolve it.

Alarms generated by the 5620 SAM are passed to OSS systems via the 5620 SAMs northbound interface.

Mobile and transport layer assurance

The 5620 SAM employs a multi-layer approach for mobile service and transport layer assurance.The systems assurance tools enable operators to view and test each network layer end-to-end,

including inter-layer integration, allowing operators to easily understand cause and effect betweennetwork layers. This multi-layer assurance capability can be applied to both user plane and controlplane bearers in the mobile layer, as well as in the underlying IP/MPLS transport layers.

The 5620 SAMs assurance tools include:

EPS path visualization

EPS path test using the 5620 SAMs OAM service test management capability

Dynamic mobile-to-IP/MPLS transport layer correlation

IP reachability monitoring (proactive and on-demand)

EPS path visualization

All EPS paths can be viewed from the 5620 SAMs topology map (see Figure 3), providing access toa wide variety of information related to each EPS path in the network. The map provides a summaryview of the LTE network elements and the mobile layer paths (e.g., S1-U between the eNodeB andSGW) between them. The path representation between each pair of network elements summarizesall the connections between them and has an associated information table that indicates any activealarms against the underlying paths. From each summary path the operator can open a pre-lteredlist of individual alarmed paths and view detailed state, fault, and performance information relatedto each path. Information regarding the state of the underlying transport path is also available fromthe same form.

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Figure 3. 5620 SAM Mobile EPC infrastructure topology

As part of its bearer visualization capability, the 5620 SAM also provides user plane visualizationvia its topology maps. As illustrated in Figure 4, the set of nodes (PGW to eNodeB) through whicha default/dedicated bearer passes are highlighted on the map. Because user equipment may be engagedin a handover (being handed-off from one network element to the next eNodeB to eNodeB or SGWto SGW), maps may be refreshed on-demand.

Figure 4. 5620 SAM control plane bearer map C-Plane and physical views

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From the service topology map, operators have access to bearer contexts at the SGW and PGW,which provide state and performance data related to the bearer. From the map window (see Figure 5),the operator can also test the individual segments which make up the bearer (PGW to SGW andSGW to eNodeB), as well as test the end-to-end path (PGW to eNodeB) for IP connectivity, delay,jitter, and packet loss. This latter function is described in more detail in the next section.

Figure 5. 5620 SAM mobile core service topology

OAM test management

The 5620 SAM provides a test management capability, which by leveraging the capabilities ofthe MME, SGW, PGW, eNodeB, and the IP Transport layer network elements allows operatorsto monitor the SLA behavior of the network.

These Operations, Administration, and Management (OAM) measurements can be performed

on-demand or can be set up to run in the background to monitor connectivity, delay, jitter, and packetloss over the various layers of the network on an ongoing basis. Supported OAM tests include GPRSTunneling Protocol (GTP) echo, Internet Control Messaging Protocol (ICMP) and Ethernet OAM(802.1ag and Y.1731). This capability allows operators to constantly monitor network behavior andprovides a very powerful tool for detecting, isolating, and resolving network faults.

Cross-layer (Mobile/IP transport) path correlation

Used in combination with the 5650 CPAM, the 5620 SAM details the relationship between an EPSpath (user or control plane) and the end-to-end underlying IP transport layer. If the level of serviceprovided by a bearer is below the acceptable standard (as determined by the OAM test managementcapability described above), the 5650 CPAM and 5620 SAM can quickly isolate the root cause ofthe service degradation stemming from underlying IP transport layer issues. Such rapid problemresolution and correlation between two layers mobile and transport signicantly improvesthe operational agility of a mobile operator (see Figure 6).

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Figure 6. 5650 CPAM IP transport layer path topology

IP reachability monitoring

The 5650 CPAM maintains a detailed view of the routing layer (L3) topology, which it derives fromthe IP network. Based on this topology view, operators can proactively monitor the reachability of anetwork IP subnet from any point in the network (i.e., assess if there is an IP layer path from SGWand eNodeB).

The 5620 SAM provides the 5650 CPAM with the set of subnets to be monitored via an east-westinterface. The 5650 CPAM generates a notication to the 5620 SAM if the reachability of one ormore subnets is lost. The 5620 SAM uses this notication to alert operators of problems and affected

network elements. With the 5650 CPAMs assurance capabilities, operators can then isolate theproblem in the routing layer and resolve it.

6. Performance management

A comprehensive set of statistics counters collected by the 5620 SAM from the MME, SGW, andPGW nodes enables operators to monitor network activity, collect planning data, and diagnosefaults with the network. A typical performance management data form (shown in Figure 7), displaysperformance management data collected from a network element by the 5620 SAM.

Performance management data can be collected by the 5620 SAM either on-demand or at regularintervals (as dened by a statistics polling policy). The operator has complete control over the setof SNMP MIB tables that are polled by the 5620 SAM, as well as the polling frequency. Polledperformance management data are stored in the database and are accessible via the 5620 SAMsnorthbound interface.

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Figure 7. 5620 SAM statistics log record

The 5620 SAM also provides real-time plotting (shown in Figure 8) for both real-time and historicalcounters, providing operators with a visual representation of performance data. The minimumcollection frequency for the statistics plotter is 10 seconds for real-time data. Multiple counters canbe plotted simultaneously on the same plot window for comparison purposes, and multiple plotwindows can be open at the same time.

Figure 8. 5620 SAM statistics display

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7. Security management

The 5620 SAM features a multi-layer security architecture. The system authenticates operators byusername and password before they are allowed to access the 5620 SAM GUI. This authenticationcan be carried out in conjunction with a RADIUS or TACACS+ server. User proles, assigned at login,provide the administrator with ne-grained control over an operators access rights and privileges. The5620 SAM has additional span-of-control capabilities, allowing the system administrator to limit an

operators privileges to a subset of managed network elements.

8. OSS integration

The 5620 SAM offers an XML-based northbound interface, which provides access to all informationstored within the 5620 SAM database. Through this interface an OSS system has access to allconguration capabilities (read/write), performance management data, and alarm informationrelated to the managed network elements and stored in the 5620 SAM database.

This northbound interface allows mobile operators to integrate all Ultimate Wireless Packet Coreelements and managed IP/MPLS transport layer elements into an OSS infrastructure via a singleinterface. The interface abstracts, for OSS systems, the different types of network elements and

different software versions deployed in the network, dramatically reducing integration costs andcomplexity. It also reduces network bandwidth consumption, enabling multiple OSS platformsto request the same data from the 5620 SAM instead of going directly to the network elements.

The OSS Connected Partner Program provides ongoing (release over release) certication betweenthe 5620 SAMs northbound interface and pre-integrated products from leading independent softwarevendors. This certication reduces the time and cost of integrating the 5620 SAM into a mobileservice providers network environment. To nd out more about the program and partners pleasevisit our website at www.alcatel-lucent.com/osscp.

9. Conclusion

Service-aware network management based on the 5620 SAM provides advanced IP assuranceand provisioning capabilities designed to help operators efciently manage the complexitiesof an all-IP network. From proactive troubleshooting that spans physical, routing, and servicetopologies to advanced provisioning tools and standards-based interfaces, the 5620 SAM providesunmatched operational exibility and rapid, easy integration into existing operational environmentsand processes.

Proven in more than 270 customer deployments worldwide, including some of the largest and mostadvanced IP/MPLS networks, the 5620 SAM equips mobile service providers with the tools requiredto manage their networks efciently.

As service providers continue to transform their networks and services and evolve their operationalmodels, the modular, extensible, and scalable architecture of the 5620 SAM not only addressestodays mobile network challenges but provides a foundation to support tomorrows market-leading,mobile and converged service offerings.

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www.alcatel-lucent.com Alcatel, Lucent, Alcatel-Lucent and the Alcatel-Lucent logoare trademarks of Alcatel-Lucent. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.The information presented is subject to change without notice. Alcatel-Lucent assumes no responsibilityfor inaccuracies contained herein. Copyright 2010 Alcatel-Lucent. All rights reserved.CPG2896100214 (03)