© Yota 2013

Yota PCRF

Product Description

Product version: 3.6

Document version: 2.9

Status: development

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 2

Revision History

Date Version Author Revision

09.03.2011 1.0 Evgenia Martynyuk Document created

01.06.2011 1.1 Evgenia Martynyuk Integration with 3G CDMA2000 was added.

Figures review and update

06.06.2011 1.1 Evgenia Martynyuk Geographical distribution was added

28.07.2011 1.2 Evgenia Martynyuk Yota PCRF architecture update

17.08.2011 1.2 Evgenia Martynyuk Integration with LTE network figure was changed

29.08.2011 1.3 Evgenia Martynyuk Functional and Redundancy figures were changed

17.10.2011 2.1 Evgenia Martynyuk Supported product version changed to 2.5

19.01.2012 2.2 Evgenia Martynyuk

Supported product version changed to 3.0,

"Yota PCRF Architecture" and "Feature

Description" chapters update

04.03.2012 2.3 Evgenia Martynyuk

Supported product version changed to 3.1,

"Yota PCRF Architecture" and "Network

Integration" chapters updated

13.07.2012 2.4 Evgenia Martynyuk Supported product version changed to 3.2,

"Yota PCRF Architecture" chapter updated

21.08.2012 2.5 Evgenia Martynyuk Supported product version changed to 3.3

29.10.2012 2.6 Evgenia Martynyuk Supported product version changed to 3.4. "Yota

PCRF Architecture" chapter updated

31.01.2013 2.7 Evgenia Martynyuk

Supported product version changed to 3.5.1.

"Yota PCRF Architecture" and "Integration"

chapters updated

02.04.2013 2.8 Evgenia Martynyuk Supported product version changed to 3.5.2.

10.09.2013 2.9 Evgenia Martynyuk Supported product version changed to 3.6. "Yota

PCRF Architecture" chapter updated

© Yota 2013 3

Table of Contents

About the document .................................................................................................. 5

Formatting conventions .......................................................................................... 5

Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ 5

Introduction .............................................................................................................. 8

Yota PCRF Architecture .............................................................................................. 9

Yota PCRF System Functional Components .................................................................. 10

Geographical Distribution .......................................................................................... 10

DDF as Temporary Subscriber Profile Storage .......................................................... 11

DDF as Permanent Subscriber Profile Storage .......................................................... 11

PCRF Node Components ............................................................................................ 11

PCRF Core ........................................................................................................... 12

PCRF Database ..................................................................................................... 12

Diameter Interfaces .............................................................................................. 12

HTTP Interfaces .................................................................................................... 13

Administration Tools ............................................................................................. 15

EDR Writer .......................................................................................................... 16

BackUp ............................................................................................................... 16

Service Components ............................................................................................. 17

Monitoring ........................................................................................................... 17

DDF Node Components ............................................................................................. 18

Data Distribution Function (DDF) ............................................................................ 19

Propagator ........................................................................................................... 19

PCRF Database ..................................................................................................... 19

Diameter Interfaces .............................................................................................. 19

HTTP Interfaces .................................................................................................... 20

MiniCRM .............................................................................................................. 21

Administration Tools ............................................................................................. 21

Service Components ............................................................................................. 21

BackUp ............................................................................................................... 22

Monitoring and Statics ........................................................................................... 22

PCRF Cluster Architecture .......................................................................................... 23

Integration ............................................................................................................... 24

Network Integration .................................................................................................. 25

LTE ..................................................................................................................... 25

WiMAX ................................................................................................................ 25

3G UTMS ............................................................................................................. 26

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 4

3G CDMA2000 ...................................................................................................... 27

IMS..................................................................................................................... 28

Convergence ........................................................................................................ 29

Integration with IT Infrastructure ............................................................................... 30

Billing ................................................................................................................. 30

Self-care ............................................................................................................. 30

OSS .................................................................................................................... 30

PLM/Product Catalog ............................................................................................. 30

Connection Manager ............................................................................................. 31

Feature Description .................................................................................................. 32

Policy Control in General ........................................................................................... 33

Usage-based Policy Control ........................................................................................ 33

Personalized Services ................................................................................................ 33

Time-based Policy Control ......................................................................................... 34

Location-based Policy Control ..................................................................................... 34

Policy Control Based on Device Type ........................................................................... 35

Parental Control ....................................................................................................... 35

Shared Quota ........................................................................................................... 35

Congestion Management ........................................................................................... 36

Notifications and Promotions ...................................................................................... 37

About the document

© Yota 2013 5

About the document

The purpose of this document is to provide general overview of Yota PCRF system and describe architecture and functions in term of product structure, integration with networks and features.

Formatting conventions

The following conventions are used in the document:

Item Convention Example

Document titles Title caps, italic See "Yota PCRF 3.4 Periodic Tasks

Description"

Chapter titles Title caps, in quotation

marks See Chapter 2, "PCRF System Processes"

Command on menus

and buttons

Bold, capitalization as in a

user interface Click Add button

System components Default, capitalization PCRF Core

General emphasis Italic

Reference to another chapter of the same

document is made as a cross reference in

the following format

Abbreviations

Abbreviation Meaning

3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project

AAA Authentication Authorization Accounting

AF Application Function

ASN-GW Access Service Network Gateway

BS Base Station

BSC Base Station Controller

CLI Command Line Interface

CRM Customer Relationship Management

CSP Communications Service Provider

DDF Data Distribution Function

DPI Deep Packet Inspection

eGGSN enhanced GGSN

eNB E-UTRAN NodeB

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 6

FTP File Transfer Protocol

GGSN Gateway GPRS Service Node

GPRS General Packet Radio Service

HLR Home Location Register

HSS Home Subscriber Server

IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem

IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity

LTE 3GPP Long Term Evolution

MME Mobility Management Entity

MS Mobile Station

O&M Operations and Maintenance

OSS/BSS

(B/OSS) Operation Support System/Business Support System

P2P Peer to Peer

PC Personal Computer

PCC Policy and Charging Control

PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function

PCRF Policy and Charging Rules Function

P-CSCF Proxy Call Session Control Function

PDN-GW (P-

GW) Public Data Network Gateway

PDSN/HA Packet Data Serving Node / Home Agent

PLM Product Lifecycle Management

QoS Quality of Service

SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol

SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node

About the document

© Yota 2013 7

S-GW Serving Gateway

SMS Short Message Service

SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol

SPR Subscriber Profile Repository

TCP Transmission Control Protocol

USSD Unstructured Supplementary Service Data

UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 8

Introduction

In the era of packet communication technologies and rapidly growing demand for bandwidth

and data transfer volumes intelligent control over quality of services (QoS) provided to

subscribers plays a major role.

In telecommunication networks dynamic control over QoS policies is performed by PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function), which is supplied with SPR (Subscriber Profile Repository).

Yota PCRF is a standard compliant policy management solution that enables operator to

dynamically control network elements with real-time policies based on service, subscriber or usage context.

Yota PCRF allows making policy decisions based on:

Subscriber profile and enabled services

Subscriber application and protocol (Skype, P2P)

Content type (Video, MP3)

Subscriber device (Mobile, iPad, TV, PC)

Subscriber location (home, roaming, specific cell)

Date and time

Accumulated usage (per month, week, day, hour)

Cell congestion

Any combination of the above and other parameters

Yota PCRF gives operators the flexibility to quickly respond to competitor tactics, new devices, applications and changing consumer data habits.

Yota PCRF gives service providers valuable abilities like:

Dynamic online control over subscribers’ services

Protection of key revenue-generating services

Optimized and maintained network utilization

New business models and new revenue streams

A better understanding of subscriber behavior

At the same time Yota PCRF provides subscribers with the following benefits:

Improved QoE (Quality of Experience)

True personalization

Real-time interaction with the network

© Yota 2013 9

1

Yota PCRF Architecture

Yota PCRF System Functional Components

Geographical Distribution

PCRF Node Components

DDF Node Components

Cluster Architecture

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 10

This chapter describes the high-level architecture of Yota PCRF product.

Yota PCRF System Functional Components

Yota PCRF system consists of two main elements:

PCRF. This element carries all policy selection logic and also incorporates SPR functionality.

DDF. This element is required for geographically distributed configuration.

The system can have one DDF cluster and several PCRF clusters (standalone nodes). Every cluster consists of two physical identical servers.

Geographical Distribution

Yota PCRF supports installation in multiple regions. The component that provides geographical distribution is DDF (Data Distribution Function).

DDF carries out a single entry point for BSS. BSS sends commands only to DDF. DDF then forwards these commands to Yota PCRF clusters.

The scheme of geographically-distributed configuration is shown in the figure below:

Figure 1. Geographical distribution

BSS

DDF

HTTP

SPR

PCRF

PCRF

DB

City A

PCRF

DB

HTTP,

Diameter (I0,I1)

HTTP,

Diameter (I0,I1)

HTTP,

Diameter (I0,I1)

SPR

PCRF

PCRF

DB

City B

SPR

PCRF

PCRF

DB

City C

PCEFPCEF PCEFPCEF PCEFPCEF

At the same time DDF can be configured as:

only temporary subscriber profile storage (default)

permanent subscriber profile storage

PCRF Node Components

© Yota 2013 11

DDF as Temporary Subscriber Profile Storage

In this case DDF is only temporary subscriber profile storage for new and migrated profiles.

DDF performs subscriber profiles migration from one regional PCRF cluster to another and

subscriber profiles are then stored on local PCRF permanently. Every local PCRF cluster stores

its own subscriber profiles information.

DDF as Permanent Subscriber Profile Storage

In this case DDF stores the whole operator’s subscriber database. No subscriber profile

migration from one local PCRF to another. Local PCRF receives subscriber profiles and stores them until these subscribes session are terminated.

PCRF Node Components

PCRF cluster carries all policy selection logic and also incorporates SPR functionality.

The functional architecture of a PCRF node is illustrated on the figure below:

Figure 2. Functional architecture of PCRF node with integrated SPR

PCRF Core

Secondary

PCRF Node

In-memory DB

PCRF

DB

PCRF

Node

DDF

Diameter Interfaces

PCEF

Policy Engine

Gx

BSS

HTTP

Monitoring

I0, I1

I0, I1 (Diameter)

Administrator Monitoring

Center

DDF O&M

Console

HTTP Interfaces

SPR

Configuration

Interface

Subscriber

Management

Interface

Subscriber

Session Info

Interface

GRAPI

RxGxx

Clu

ste

r

wa

tch

do

g

BBERF AF

CRM

SNMP,

HTTP

Administration Tools

CLIPCRF O&M

Console

Service

Components

MiniCRM

BackUpSystem

Logging

EDR

Writer

S9

Visited

PCRF

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 12

Arrows direction shows the information flow between components.

PCRF consists of the following key components:

PCRF Core

PCRF Database (with incorporated SPR)

Diameter Interfaces (for interaction with network core equipment and DDF)

HTTP Interfaces (for information provisioning, subscriber profiles management,

information obtaining by external systems)

Administration Tools

PCRF Core

PCRF Core contains Policy Engine, which implements the logic of policy decision for subscriber

access, based on different criteria. The input is SPR information (subscription information,

subscriber location), session information, accumulated usage, used quota or roaming

conditions. The output is the chosen policy, which defines access of a subscriber to network resources and levels of QoS.

Policy Engine has embedded script processor which is based on Lua scripting language. Script

processor can operate with PCRF functions and attributes, and build any combination of

attributes and conditions for policy decision. This enables virtually unlimited flexibility in configuration of rules in PCRF.

PCRF Database

In-memory PCRF database contains:

SPR information

Session information

Other service information

SPR Information

This is information about:

Subscribers (such as subscriber identity, his profile). These subscribers are attached to the

Network in the region that is served by a local PCRF cluster

Subscription (services and quotas)

Accumulated usage of a service

Session Information

This service information contains network session context and information of all Diameter

interfaces: Gx, Rx, S9, etc…

Diameter Interfaces

Diameter interfaces allows PCRF node to communicate with PCEF, AF, secondary cluster node

and DDF. Yota PCRF supports Diameter message transfer over TCP or SCTP transport protocol.

Several DPIs and/or PCEFs (e.g., PDN-GW, GGSN) can be connected to PCRF in cluster or standalone mode.

The following Diameter Gx dialects are supported:

Default Gx (3GPP TS 29.212 Rel 8,9)

Vendor-specific dialects

PCRF Node Components

© Yota 2013 13

Yota PCRF has successfully passed IOT with all vendors mentioned below:

Huawei

Cisco

Procera

Samsung

Sandvine

The following Rx interface specifications are supported:

3GPP TS 29.214 Rel 8,9

The following Gxx interface specification is supported:

3GPP TS 29.212 Release 9

The following S9 roaming specifications are supported:

3GPP TS 29.215 Release 8,9

PCRF clusters communicate with DDF cluster via I0 and I1 interfaces which are based on

Diameter. I0 is used for subscriber profiles migration between clusters and I1 is used for subscriber session start reporting to DDF or PCEF.

HTTP Interfaces

The following HTTP interfaces are available for external systems:

Subscriber Management Interface

SPR Configuration Interface

Subscriber Session Information Interface

Generic Request API

Request format is HTTP REST. Answer format is JSON over HTTP.

Subscriber Management Interface

This interface is used for provisioning of subscription information to local PCRF database and

allows managing subscriber profile, services, and accumulators.

The interface supports the following command types:

Commands for subscriber profile management (add\delete\update\get subscriber

information, etc.)

Commands for services management (add\delete services to\from a subscriber, update

service information, get all subscriber’s services, etc.)

Commands for usage accumulator management (add\delete\update\get accumulator

information, etc.)

Information

For more information about Diameter interfaces, please refer to the "Yota PCRF 3.6 Diameter Interfaces".

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 14

SPR Configuration Interface

This interface is used for managing SPR dictionaries.

Information of the following dictionaries can be changed:

Service dictionary. Contains information about all services that can be assigned to a

subscriber.

Threshold Scheme dictionary. Contains information about all threshold schemes that are

used in Yota PCRF.

Accumulator dictionary. Contains information about all accumulators that are used in

Yota PCRF.

Attribute dictionary. Contains information about all supplementary attributes that can be

added to a specified service or subscriber.

The interface supports the following operations:

add dictionary information

delete dictionary information

update dictionary information

get dictionary information

Subscriber Session Information Interface

The interface is used for obtaining information from active Gx session context. Such

information includes session ID, subscriber ID, and other parameters.

Important

If DDF is configured as single profile storage, Subscriber Management Interface commands

are not propagated to PCRF clusters. All changes a will be applied to subscriber profiles that are stored on DDF cluster only.

Information

For more information about the interface, please refer to the "Yota PCRF 3.6 Subscriber

Management Interface".

Information

For more information about the interface, please refer to "Yota PCRF 3.6 SPR Configuration Interface".

PCRF Node Components

© Yota 2013 15

Generic Request API (GRAPI)

Generic Request API (GRAPI) gives operators a flexible ability to customize processing logic on

PCRF side. GRAPI doesn’t require any integration features development.

Using GRAPI operator can perform operations on:

services

subscriber and service attributes

session information

any other information, available for PCRF

GRAPI involves launching a custom Lua script, which contains processing logic, to a PCRF node

by HTTP request.

Administration Tools

PCRF O&M Console

PCRF O&M Console is one of the main administration tools. It allows configuring, maintaining,

monitoring of the Yota PCRF system.

This Web Interface:

allows an operator to make flexible configuration of a PCRF cluster.

allows process and session browsing, which occur in the system, connections generating,

dynamic routes creating, and other operations.

enables fault management, overload management, and shows counters statistics.

The PCRF O&M Console is available at:

http://<pcrf_host>

CLI

This component is optional and is used for performing simple administration tasks like adding,

updating, or deleting subscriber profile or service information.

Information

For more information about the interface, please refer to "Yota PCRF 3.6 Subscriber Session Information Interface".

Information

For more information about the interface, please refer to "Yota PCRF 3.6 Generic Request API".

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 16

Mass Operation Utility

Mass Operation Utility performs mass operations with subscriber profile information. The utility

takes subscriber ID (and other additional parameters if there are any) from subscriber list file

and sends management commands (HTTP-requests), which were specified in another file, to DDF or PCRF node for subscriber profile modification.

EDR Writer

EDR Writer (Event Data Records Writer) generates files with information about all events that

lead to a QoS policy or rules set change. EDR files contain all policy change history for each

subscriber that makes subscriber support easier. This information can be loaded into external BI systems for further analysis.

EDR file includes:

Cause of event and time stamp

PCRF node information

Subscriber information

Policy and rule information

Session information

BackUp

This component is optional and performs full backup of the information (such as subscriber

profiles, session information, configuration files, server settings, etc.), which is stored in PCRF database. Full backup of the database is performed every 3 hours.

Information

For more information about the administration tools, please refer to "Yota PCRF 3.6 Administrator's Guide", chapter "Administration Tools".

Information

For more information about the utility, please refer to "Yota PCRF 3.6 Mass Operation Utility

Description".

Information

For more information about EDR files, please refer to "Yota PCRF 3.6 EDR Generation".

Information

For more information about backup and restore procedures, please refer to "Yota PCRF 3.6 Backup and Recovery".

PCRF Node Components

© Yota 2013 17

Service Components

Service components provide stable system operating and high performance, manage active

processes in the system (if a process is down or doesn’t respond it will be restarted), root out session doubles and terminate them, collect required information required for RRD charts, etc…

Monitoring

This component is optional and serves for monitoring of system status, including sub-

components, load level and performance.

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 18

DDF Node Components

DDF cluster forwards provisioning interface commands from BSS to Yota PCRF clusters.

The functional architecture of DDF node is illustrated on the figure below:

Figure 3. Functional architecture of DDF node

HTTP Interfaces

DDF

Secondary DDF

Node

In-memory DB

DDF

Node

BSS

PCRF

DB

HTTP

Monitoring

I0, I1

PCRF

Clusters

Clu

ste

r

wa

tch

do

g

Propagator

Proxy

HTTP

Diameter Interfaces

Monitoring

Center

StatisticsDDF Info

Interface

SPR

Configuration

Interface

GRAPI

Subscriber

Session Info

Interface

Subscriber

Management

Interface

HTTP

CRM

HTTP

Administrator

Administration Tools

DDF O&M

ConsoleCLI

BackUp

Service

Components

System

Logging

MiniCRM

DDF consists of the following key components:

Data Distribution Function (DDF)

Propagator

PCRF Database

Diameter Interfaces

HTTP Interfaces

MiniCRM

Administration Tools

DDF Node Components

© Yota 2013 19

Data Distribution Function (DDF)

Performs subscriber profiles migration from one regional PCRF cluster to another if DDF cluster is used only as temporary subscriber profile storage.

In case of permanent subscriber profile storage DDF sends requested subscriber profile

information to regional PCRF clusters and receives information about location change and

accumulated usage from PCRF.

Propagator

This component propagates SPR configuration commands to regional PCRF clusters.

PCRF Database

DDF database has the same structure as PCRF database on a PCRF node and contains:

SPR information

Session information

PCRF database on DDF is used for:

1. Temporary storage of a subscriber profile while it is migrated from old PCRF database to

new PCRF database and when a new subscriber is created.

2. Permanent storage of all Operator subscriber database.

When SPR configuration commands are received, they are processed locally and then are propagated to all regional PCRF clusters if required.

Session information is required only for interaction with regional PCRF clusters.

Temporary Storage

In case of temporary storage subscriber profiles are stored on DDF only when:

DDF performs a subscriber profile migration from one regional PCRF to another.

The complete transaction is divided into two parts. At first, DDF requests profile from an

old PCRF cluster database and stores it in own database. Then DDF sends profile to a new

PCRF cluster database and removes it from PCRF database on DDF.

BSS sends a command to create new subscriber, to whom DDF doesn’t have routing

information yet.

In this case DDF creates a profile in its own PCRF database. The subscriber profile

information will be migrated to a home PCRF cluster right after the first attach to the

network of this subscriber.

Permanent Storage

In case of permanent storage all subscriber profiles are stored on DDF. Local PCRF gets

subscriber profile and stores it while this subscriber session exists on PCRF.

Diameter Interfaces

DDF communicate with PCRF clusters via I0 and I1 interfaces which are based on Diameter.

I0 is used for subscriber profiles migration between clusters and I1 is used for subscriber session start reporting.

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 20

HTTP Interfaces

The following interfaces are available for external systems on DDF node:

SPR Configuration Interface

DDF Information Interface

Subscriber Management interface

Subscriber Session Information Interface

Generic Request API

SPR Configuration Interface

SPR configuration commands, which are sent from BSS to DDF, are processed on DDF first and

then are propagated to all regional PCRF clusters.

See more details about the interface in "

SPR Configuration Interface" section of PCRF node description.

DDF Information Interface

This interface is used to request subscriber home PCRF address by subscriber ID or session IP.

Subscriber Management Interface

Subscriber Management Interface commands are routed to home PCRF cluster after validation

on DDF.

See more details about the interface in "Subscriber Management Interface" section of PCRF node description.

Information

For more information Diameter Interfaces, please refer to the "Yota PCRF 3.6 Diameter Interfaces".

Information

For more information about the interface, please refer to the "Yota PCRF 3.6 DDF Information Interface".

Important

If DDF is configured as single profile storage, Subscriber Management Interface commands

are not propagated to PCRF clusters. All changes a will be applied to subscriber profiles that are stored on DDF cluster only.

DDF Node Components

© Yota 2013 21

Subscriber Session Information interface

Subscriber Session Information Interface commands are routed to home PCRF cluster after

validation on DDF.

See more details about the interface in "Subscriber Session Information Interface" section of PCRF node description.

Generic Request API

GRAPI commands are routed to home PCRF cluster after validation on DDF.

See more details about the interface in "Generic Request API (GRAPI)" section of PCRF node description.

MiniCRM

MiniCRM is a centralized interface, which is used to obtain subscriber profiles and session

information by subscriber ID or session IP.

The following information is available via miniCRM:

Subscriber location

Subscriber mapping status (mapping type: normal or temporary)

Full subscriber information from SPR (services, attributes, accumulators, accumulators

schemes, services attributes)

Session information (session ID, base station ID, QoS policy, region, etc.)

MiniCRM can be embedded to different external CRM systems.

Administration Tools

To provide full Operations & Maintenance function Yota PCRF system has the following main administration tools:

DDF O&M Console

Command Line Interface (CLI)

DDF O&M Console

DDF O&M console is used for configuration, administration and maintenance of all Yota PCRF system clusters.

The DDF O&M Console is available at:

http://<ddf_host>

CLI

CLI on DDF node is optional and has the same functions as PCRF node CLI.

Service Components

Service components provide stable system operating and high performance, manage active

processes in the system (if a process is down or doesn’t respond it will be restarted), collect required information required for RRD charts, etc…

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 22

BackUp

This component is optional and performs backup of DDF databases information (subscriber profiles, session information, server settings, etc.). Full backup is performed every 3 hours.

Monitoring and Statics

This is optional component, which serves for monitoring of system status, including sub-components, load level and performance.

Built-in statistics collection provides values of various counters, such as number of requests, processing errors and so on.

Information

For more information about backup and restore procedures, please refer to "Yota PCRF 3.6 Backup and Recovery".

PCRF Cluster Architecture

© Yota 2013 23

PCRF Cluster Architecture

In standard configuration PCRF cluster includes two nodes. Each node is a server with installed required sofrware.

PCRF cluster supports Active/Hot-standby architecture.

PCRF cluster nodes process requests in Active/Hot-standby mode. Session and SPR information

is replicated between nodes. If primary cluster node is unavailable, the secondary node takes

over all workloads and handles sessions, which were created on the unavailable node.

Figure 4. Redundancy

PCEF Cluster

DDF

Diameter

Interfaces

PCRF

DB

Diameter

Interfaces

PCRF

DB

DDF

PCEF

Primary

Node

Secondary

Node

DB replication

HTTPHTTP

Master link Slave link

HTTP

Interfaces

HTTP

Interfaces

Policy Engine Policy Engine

Cluster

watchdog

PCEF

PCRF Cluster

BSS

Gx Gx GxGx

Active/Active mode is also possible.

DDF cluster also supports Active/Hot-standby architecture. But on the secondary node Propagator components is stopped.

PCRF as standalone node installation is also possible.

© Yota 2013 24

2

Integration

Network Integration

Integration with IT Infrastructure

Network Integration

© Yota 2013 25

This chapter describes Yota PCRF integration with different networks and integration with IT

infrastructure.

Network Integration

LTE

A high-level view of Yota PCRF integration with LTE network is shown in the figure below:

Figure 5. Integration with LTE network

P-GW

Gx

Gxx

eNB

DPIPCEF

Services

Internet

Content Video

PCRF

MME S-GW

Yota PCRF can be integrated with S-GW or P-GW. In GTP-based network Yota PCRF is

integrated with P-GW via Gx interface. In PMIP-based network Yota PCRF is also integrated with S-GW via Gxx interface.

Integration with Gx-enabled external DPI is available as well.

WiMAX

A high-level view of Yota PCRF integration with WiMAX network is shown in the figure below:

Figure 6. Integration with WiMAX network

PCRF

BS

ASN-GW

MS Gx

DPI

AAA

PCEF Services

Internet

Content Video

For QoS management in WiMAX networks, Yota PCRF is integrated with DPI via Gx interface.

In some cases it is needed to get traffic between AAA and ASN-GW to detect a device identifier.

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 26

3G UTMS

If the 3G network has an enhanced GGSN (eGGSN) component, which includes PCEF function, Yota PCRF integrates with the eGGSN via Gx interface. See Figure 7.1.

Figure 7.1. Integration with 3G UTMS network (eGGSN)

PCRF

Services

Internet

Content Video

Gx

eGGSNPCEF

SGSN

BSC

If the 3G network has GGSN without Gx support and external DPI with built-in PCEF, Yota

PCRF can be integrated with DPI via Gx interface. To identify subscribers Yota PCRF integrates with the GGSN. See figure 7.2.

Figure 7.2. Integration with 3G UTMS network (GGSN)

PCRF

ServicesSGSN

Internet

Content Video

Gx

BSC

DPIPCEF

GGSN

Network Integration

© Yota 2013 27

3G CDMA2000

If the 3G CDMA 2000 network doesn’t have an independent DPI component and PCEF function

is included in the PDSN\HA, Yota PCRF integrates with the PDSN\HA via Gx interface. See Figure 8.1.

Figure 8.1. Integration with 3G CDMA2000 network (without independent DPI)

PCRF

ServicesPDSN/HA

Internet

Content Video

Gx

BSC

If the 3G CDMA 2000 network has an independent DPI component, which includes PCEF

function, Yota PCRF integrates with the DPI via Gx interface. To identify subscribers Yota PCRF integrates with the PDSN\HA. See Figure 8.2.

Figure 8.2. Integration with 3G CDMA2000 network (independent DPI)

PCRF

ServicesPDSN/HA

Internet

Content Video

Gx

BSC

DPIPCEF

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 28

IMS

A high-level view of Yota PCRF integration with IMS is shown in the figure below:

Figure 9. Integration with IMS

PCRF

IMS

GxP-CSCF

LTERx

AF

AF Rx

Rx

Yota PCRF is integrated with the IMS P-CSCF (Proxy Call Session Control Function) via Rx

interface and with LTE network via Gx interface.

IMS P-CSCF component manages QoS and authorizes the usage of specific bearer services

(services that allow transmission of information signals between network interfaces) in relation to IMS-based services.

Network Integration

© Yota 2013 29

Convergence

Yota PCRF is a network-agnostic solution. It supports LTE, WiMAX, 3G and is capable of

controlling policies of different networks and enables operators to build a centralized policy

control solution across all operators’ networks. This network convergence concept is illustrated

in figure below:

Figure 10. Convergence

PCRF

LTE

WiMAX

3G

IMS

AFAF

Policy C

ontrol

QoS request

Po

licy C

on

tro

l

Policy Control

QoS request

Yota PCRF receives QoS requests from different services via different interaction interfaces and applies policies based on subscribers/network/session information.

Yota PCRF can implement policy control functions over transport networks as well as receive

notifications and QoS requests from IMS and AF via Rx and in compliance with this information

dynamically manage policies over transport networks.

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 30

Integration with IT Infrastructure

In order to bring more value and policy features like Turbo Button in Connection Manager,

parental control, and intelligent reaction on subscriber QoS change like notifications and promo

offerings, Yota PCRF can be integrated with different BSS and IT components.

The scheme of integration with BSS components can be displayed the following way:

Figure 11. Integration with IT infrastructure

PCRF

Connection

Manager

Cell load

information

- Subscriber status

- Quota / Usage

Self-care

PLMOSS

- Notifications

- Subscriber status

- Quota / Usage

QoS Tariffs

Billing

Pro

vis

ion

ing

Billing

Yota PCRF integration with Billing allows subscribers to centralize policies and billing functions

in a multi-service/multi-network environment and have access to consolidated subscriber information.

Self-care

Yota PCRF integration with self-care allows subscribers to see online status of their services.

Online status includes information about a subscriber’s remaining quota, either in terms of time or volume.

OSS

Yota PCRF integration with OSS enables service providers to detect network congestion periods and during these periods provide services with QoS based on subscriber data plans.

PLM/Product Catalog

Today, policy is a parameter of the same level of service as a price. Operator offers should

have both price and QoS configured in the same place.

Yota PCRF integration with PLM/Product Catalog rapidly decreases time required for configuring

new tariffs by service provider staff, thus reducing Time-to-Market for new marketing offers.

Integration with IT Infrastructure

© Yota 2013 31

Connection Manager

The best way to interact with mobile broadband subscribers is via the Connection Manager instead of SMS, USSD, and other communication channels commonly used by service providers.

Yota PCRF integration with Connection Manager enables service providers to notify, make promotions, and interact with subscribers via the Connection Manager which is always at hand.

© Yota 2013 32

3

Feature Description

Policy Control in General

Usage-based Policy Control

Personalized Services

Time-based Policy Control

Location-based policy control

Policy Control Based on Device Type

Parental Control

Shared Quota

Congestion Management

Notifications and Promotion

Policy Control in General

© Yota 2013 33

This chapter gives a brief description of basic Yota PCRF features.

Policy Control in General

The growing popularity of rich media, interactive applications, and convergent devices are

driving exponential increases in data usage. Per user megabyte consumption is multiplying at

an accelerated pace in almost every part of the world. But data revenue growth is far behind traffic growth and costs of increasing network capacity.

The future success of service providers greatly depends upon their ability to create new

revenue streams. Service providers are now faced with several strategic questions like how to profit from data growth, how best to manage limited network resources.

The answers to these questions can be found in Policy Control.

Policy Control enables operator to dynamically control network elements with real-time policies

based on service, subscriber, or usage context. The policies include information about

bandwidth, charging, consumption and other network parameters for a subscriber’s entire data

session or for one or more particular applications.

With Policy Control, service providers are enabled to adjust and segment their offerings

around: data volumes, time-of-day conditions, application type, URL / domain, protocol, location, content categories, and etc…

This ability transforms IP networks from “best-effort” dumb pipes to smartly managed

environments ensuring a high level of service, based on network, application, and subscriber

awareness.

Usage-based Policy Control

Many operators are faced with a situation in which a small number of heavy users are

consuming large volumes of network capacity leading to network congestion. In this

environment, service providers must ensure network costs do not outstrip revenue growth

while meeting the data usage needs of all subscribers.

With Yota PCRF service providers can ensure optimal experience for all subscribers by

dynamically managing subscriber usage and network resources in real-time. Operators can

enforce usage-based policies and manage network congestion while increasing the value of

their networks.

With Yota PCRF operator can configure and assign usage limits to individual subscribers,

monitor limits in real-time, and apply a specific policy when subscriber’s usage exceeds their

quota. A variety of actions can be taken whenever a subscriber exceeds his usage limit, such as disallowing certain usage or reducing connection speed during peak hours.

In order to help subscribers by preventing bill shock, operators give subscribers an opportunity

to track their data usage utilizing online reports and/or an automatic alert notification.

Personalized Services

One size never fits all. Some subscribers only use instant messaging programs (e.g., ICQ) or

do internet browsing to access social networks. They don’t need high speed, but want to

always be on-line. Others download lots of movies and music from the Internet using P2P

services and high speed is important to them. And there also are subscribers who use their

USB dongles for business purposes. They need to be online even on the go. It is critical for them to have guaranteed quality.

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 34

Service providers need the ability to segment their subscribers by offering choices of different

data plans and prices, based on speed of access, data volume limits, exclusion of certain application and devices.

With Yota PCRF operator can offer targeted services, which will fit subscribers’ needs, and

assign quality for each service according to the subscribers’ preferences. By controlling the

quality of services in real-time operators make the traffic usage fairer and prevent network

congestion.

Time-based Policy Control

Yota PCRF is comprehensive tool for creation of time-based policies, which can be configured by the service provider or subscriber himself via the self-care portal.

With Yota PCRF an operator can offer the following policies based on time:

Service validity period

Time of a day or/and days of a week policies

Service validity period - PCRF controls the validity period which was set for each particular

service. If the service validity time comes to an end, PCRF takes an action like bandwidth

reducing or blocking broadband access. It can be used for parental controls when parents set

limited Internet access time for their children.

Time of a day/ days of a week - Operator can offer broadband access only during weekends

and holidays or during non-congestion periods for lower prices.

Location-based Policy Control

Modern mobile technologies give subscribers an opportunity to have access to the Internet

from almost anywhere. But typically, people only require high speed connections in limited

locations.

With Location-based Policy Control, operators can offer subscribers control of the quality of

their services based on the location. Subscribers can configure one or several favorite zones

via the self-care portal and enjoy hyper speed Internet within these zones. Outside favorite zones subscribers still can have Internet but with lower speed.

Yota PCRF monitors subscriber location and enforces an action when his location changes.

After applying a particular policy and adjusting subscriber bandwidth each time he enters or

leaves one of his favorite zones PCRF informs the subscriber about the QoS change as long as the subscriber is online while entering or leaving a favorite zone.

Another example of location-based policy control is bill shock prevention.

Roaming is the best opportunity to have connectivity all over the world. Yota PCRF can protect

subscribers from bill shock by allowing them to block certain services during roaming,

configure cut-off mechanisms once a subscriber’s usage reaches a certain limit. In addition operators can configure usage thresholds which trigger notification to be sent to a subscriber.

Location-based policy control helps Operators to:

Optimize network usage

Control quality of service based on subscribers’ location and their favorite zones

Location-based policy control helps Subscribers to:

Have connectivity all over the world and prevent roaming surprises

Policy Control Based on Device Type

© Yota 2013 35

Policy Control Based on Device Type

There are a lot of devices which can give access to the Internet nowadays. But different

devices have different requirements to QoS. For example, a small mobile phone doesn’t need

high bandwidth because download speed in this case will depend on the mobile phone technical

abilities. On the contrary, subscriber with a notebook requires high bandwidth for work with

video streaming, P2P, and other heavy services. Another issue is that with today's mobile

networks, which can provide high speed broadband access to the Internet, users can use their

mobile device as a modem. When ordinary subscribers can use tethering to access simple

services such as e-mail, some advanced users will use it for work with bandwidth consuming applications.

Yota PCRF enables service providers to:

Give required bandwidth to a specified type of devices

Enforce traffic optimization and congestion management

Define a list of blocked devices or a list of blocked applications for specific devices

Manage devices and their usage to make sure that the subscriber uses his device in

accordance with a service plan

Implementation of network restrictions management can protect subscribers from extra charges, protect networks from congestion, and prevent unauthorized heavy traffic.

Parental Control

With internet access now becoming standard on mobile devices, parents want the peace of

their mind knowing that their children are safe when using their phone or PC and that

excessive usage can be prevented. For example, parents don’t want their children to visit

specific sites and use the Internet more than 3 hours a day. Via the self-care portal, parents

can configure the list of sites which can be visited by their children, the time period when the

Internet can be used, and the parent can specify the maximum duration of daily Internet usage.

Yota PCRF allows the abilities to:

Apply gating according to the rules, configured by a subscriber

Redirect a child to a special page each time he tries to access a site that was not approved

by his parents

Enforce full blocking of the Internet for children when their usage reaches daily limit

With the Parental Control feature, subscribers can make flexible configurations of the list of

web sites which can be visited with their subscription in self-care. These business rules then are automatically applied and controlled in the network.

Shared Quota

Beyond increasing volumes, the growth of mobile data has also increased the number of

subscriptions per customer. Many companies provide their employees with mobile broadband

devices and many families may have several of them. Sometimes buying broadband access for

every device can be rather troublesome because a subscriber will have to monitor each of his

accounts and top-up pre-paid balance in time.

Yota PCRF provides advanced subscriber profile structure, where different subscriptions of an

individual or different individuals in an organization or a family, can be connected to each other.

Yota PCRF 3.6

Product Description

© Yota 2013 36

For example, all data traffic from all devices can be countered against a common capacity limit,

and a number of subscribers can share capacity.

With Yota PCRF companies can get corporate plans, which have cheaper prices per one device, and can centralize broadband access and charging management.

With Yota PCRF a family can unite each of family member’s accounts; it will help to manage family traffic consumption, overcome thresholds and facilitate charging.

The ability to offer such services to subscribers will become increasingly important as more and more devices start using mobile data connections.

Congestion Management

With the Congestion Management feature Yota PCRF can control cell load and apply specific policies to particular subscriber categories when congestion threshold is reached.

Cell load awareness begins with mapping active subscribers to the cell in which they have

active data sessions. Mapping is followed by measuring the cell in terms of the number of

active subscribers in the cell and in terms of the total bandwidth being used by those

subscribers. Once a pre-configured congestion threshold has been crossed, a specific policy

may be applied selectively per subscriber or for everyone in the cell until new measurements indicate that the triggering condition has subsided.

Figure 12. Congestion Management Scheme

SPRPCRF

Cell load information

1. C

on

ge

stio

n

no

tifica

tio

n

5. C

on

ge

stio

n

relie

f

2. Requests profiles of

affected subscribers

3. Sends profiles of

affected subscribers

4. Applies specific rules

for affected subscribers6. Removes specific rules

for affected subscribers

Network

The following scenario can be implemented for Congestion Management cases:

1. OSS radio network analyzer detects that a particular cell is overloaded. PCRF is notified

about cell congestion and then analyzes existing sessions and detects affected subscribers.

2. PCRF requests profiles of the affected subscribers from SPR.

3. SPR retrieves requested profiles and sends them to PCRF; PCRF analyzes the profiles and

checks for a VIP status of the subscribers.

4. For non-VIP subscribers the level of service is downgraded.

Notifications and Promotions

© Yota 2013 37

5. When cell load level becomes normal, radio network analyzer notifies PCRF about subsiding

and PCRF removes previously provisioned rules.

Notifications and Promotions

Notifications ensure that subscribers are always informed about reaching thresholds, quota

exhaustion, roaming charges, location changes, and etc… In-session redirection is one of the

most efficient ways to guarantee that a subscriber receives a notification, enabling a subscriber

to associate their usage with the offer being made in real-time. For mobile broadband subscriber another suitable way of informing is through the Connection Manager.

Yota PCRF can trigger notifications based on real-time events or conditions such as current

location, current session, usage intensity, etc… by providing an outlet to promote new plans,

features, or products.