JBoss.orgCommunity Documentation
Be aware, Mobicents SS7 Stack is subject to changes as it is under active development!
The Mobicents SS7 Stack is logically divided into two sections. The lower section includes SS7 Level 3 and below. The lower section is influenced by type of SS7 hardware (Level 1) used.
The upper section includes SS7 Level 4 and above. This logical division is widely based on flexibility of Mobicents SS7 Stack to allow usage of any SS7 hardware available in the market and yet Mobicents SS7 Stack Level 4 and above remains the same.
Further Mobicents SS7 Stack provides flexibility to use the Level 2,3 and Level 4 in same JVM and
in same machine where SS7 Hardware (Level 1) is installed. Or its also possible to have Level 1,2,3 to be installed
on separate machine and Level 4 on separate machine. In latter case M3UA
over SCTP
is leveraged for communication between Level 4 and Level 3 and is called Mobicents Signaling Gateway.
Bellow diagram shows complete Mobicents SS7 Stack in same machine
Bellow diagram shows Mobicents Signaling Gateway
If you use Mobicents M3UA stack, you have to use JDK 7 to run the stack as well as to compile source code. M3UA leverages Java SCTP which is available only from JDK 7.
Apart from advantages mentioned in
Mobicents SS7 Stack consists of following functional blocks:
Shell
is Command Line Interface (CLI) tool which allows to manage different aspects of Mobicents SS7 Stack in interactive manner.
It connects to different instances of Mobicents SS7 Stack which manage Linksets
,
SCCP
resource, routing and M3UA
. For detailed information please refer to: Chapter 5, Shell Command Line.
Usually Shell
will be invoked from remote machine(remote to Linksets
and application protocols).
SS7 service creates instance of Mobicents SCCP Stack and bind's it to JNDI name java:/mobicents/ss7/sccp
SS7 Service is JMX based service deployed in JBoss Application Server
SS7 Service hides the details like whether Level 4 and above connects to Mobicents Signaling Gateway via M3UA or SS7 Hardware installed in same machine as Level 4
Diagram below depicts elements which are deployed as part of
SS7 Service
:
Service serves following purposes:
Access points allows user to access lower layer protocols, like SCCP
and interact through such protocols with SS7
network.
Shell Executor
allows Shell
client to connect and issue commands.
Configuration of SS7 Service is explained in section Section 3.4, “ Configuring Mobicents SS7 Service ”
Diagram below depicts how Mobicents SS7 Stack is used:
Mobicents Signaling Gateway (SG) is a signaling agent that receives/sends Switched Circuit Network (SCN) native signaling at the edge of the IP network. Mobicents Signaling Gateway leverages Mobicents M3UA Stack explained in Section 2.4.1, “Mobicents M3UA Stack” and MTP
Diagram below shows the components which are included in Mobicents SG. Configuration of SG is explained in Section 3.7, “ Configuring Mobicents Signaling Gateway ”
M3UA is client-server protocol supporting the transport of any SS7 MTP3-User signalling (e.g., ISUP and SCCP messages) over IP. M3UA is defined by the IETF SIGTRAN working group in RFC 4666. Mobicents M3UA Stack can be used on Application Server side or can be used on Signaling Gateway side.
Mobicents M3UA Stack uses Java SCTP layer which is available from JDK 7 onwards
Diagram below demonstrates the Mobicents M3UA Stack used on Application Server (AS) side. The information below explains the basic functionality of the Mobicents M3UA Stack when used as an Application Server which will communicate with an External Signaling Gateway
To use M3UA Stack as AS, the Routing Context (RC) must be known. See Section Section 3.4.1, “Configuring M3UA” for configuring M3UA Stack as AS.
Diagram below demonstrates the Mobicents M3UA Stack used on Signaling Gateway (SG) side. The Mobicents Signaling Gateway provides the Nodal Interworking Function (NIF) that allows SS7 Signaling (SCCP/ISUP) to be inter-worked into the M3UA/IP Network as shown in Section 2.4, “Mobicents Signaling Gateway”
Mobicents M3UA Stack used on SG side will share common point code with a set of M3UA Application Server. M3UA stack on SG side can be configured as Loadbalance or Override traffic mode. It doesn't support Broadcast traffic mode. See Section Section 3.7, “ Configuring Mobicents Signaling Gateway ” for configuring M3UA Stack as SG. Mobicents M3UA Stack used on SG side doesn't support routing key management messages. The Routing Key should be provisioned statically using the management console.