This section provides
the physical / logical components of InTracer solution.
Component
|
Nodal Trace
|
3GPP Trace
|
InTracer client
|
When configured sends
a copy of all signaling packets for all sessions to the R-InTracer
over UDP.
|
When configured, sends
a copy of all signaling packets for activated trace sessions to
the R-TCE by pushing the generated XML trace files via FTP/SFTP.
|
R-InTracer (Regional InTracer)
|
Receives packets over
UDP from configured InTracer client, processes and stores them for
the configured storage period.
|
N/A
|
R-TCE(Regional Trace Collection Entity)
|
N/A
|
Receives XML trace files via FTP/SFTP
from configured InTracer client, parses the files and stores the information
for the configured storage period.
|
C-InTracer (Central InTracer)
|
This component provides configuration
and management in the InTracer system. It is capable of fetching
data from all configured R-InTracers and displaying coalesced information
to the end-user.
|
This component provides configuration
and management in the InTracer system. It is capable of fetching data
from all configured R-TCEs and displaying coalesced information
to the end-user. In addition to this, it also provides an interface
for activating/de-activating subscriber traces.
|
InTracer Web User Interface
|
A unified web-interface
of the product providing configuration, management and data-querying options.
|
A unified web-interface
of the product providing configuration, management and data-querying
options, along with Activation / De-activation of subscriber
traces.
|
InTracer Client Nodal
Trace
Generic Features
The following generic
features are supported by the InTracer Client for Nodal Trace:
- To send a copy of all
signaling packets for each subscriber session to configured R-InTracer
- To check the health
of configured R-InTracer (up and running)
Following are the configuration
items for the InTracer Client for Nodal Trace:
- Enabling InTracer
- R-InTracer configuration
- UDP heartbeat configuration
parameters
IMPORTANT:
Refer to the appropriate
System and Product Administration Guides for detailed information.
Specific Features
Following are the additional
configuration items to support the above features:
- License to export SA-keys
(on the gateway)
- Enabling SA-keys in
InTracer configuration
IMPORTANT:
Refer to the appropriate
System and Product Administration Guides for detailed information.
InTracer Client 3GPP
Trace
The following generic
features are supported by the InTracer Client for 3GPP Trace :
- To send a copy of all
transmitted signaling packets for activated trace sessions to the
configured R-TCE (3GPP TCE - Trace Collection Entity)
- To send trace activation/deactivation
failure notifications to the configured R-TCEFollowing are the configuration
items for the InTracer Client for 3GPP Trace:
Configuration of of
global trace parameters
Configuration of TCE
profiles (R-TCE configuration)
Management-based Activation / Deactivation
of Trace sessions
IMPORTANT:
Refer to the appropriate
System and Product Administration Guides for detailed information
R-InTracer / R-TCE
The basic functionality
of the R-InTracer / R-TCE is to receive signaling packets
from the gateways and process them. It stores all the packets along
with additional correlation information either received along with
the packet or derived after processing the packet.
Following are the features
and functions supported by the R-InTracer / R-TCE:
Feature
|
Configurable
|
Default
|
Nodal Trace
|
3GPP Trace
|
Event Processing
|
Yes
|
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Event Storage
|
Yes
|
30 Days
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Packet-loss detection
|
Yes
|
Enabled
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Health Monitoring
|
Yes
|
Enabled
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Resource Monitoring
|
Yes
|
Enabled (Default threshold values)
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Maintenance Activities
|
Yes
|
Enabled (Daily midnight)
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Statistical Counters
|
No
|
Always
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Event Processing
The basic task of the
R-InTracer / R-TCE is to receive signaling packets from
the gateways and process them. It then persistently stores all these
packets along with additional correlation information either received
along with the packet or derived after processing the packet.
Event Storage
The R-InTracer / R-TCE
stores processed packets along with other correlation information to
persistent storage. The storage period is a configurable value between
2 to 236 days, default value is 30 days.
IMPORTANT:
If event information
exceeds the storage period, it will be automatically deleted by
the system even if the system has sufficient additional storage
available.
When the R-InTracer / R-TCE
receives packets from the gateway (either through UDP sockets in
case of Nodal trace or through XML files in case of 3GPP trace),
it requires some time before it persistently stores these packets
and makes them available for query. The possible reasons for this
delay are:
- It needs to take care
of out-of-order packet delivery over UDP in case of Nodal trace
- It needs to detect
packet-losses and take appropriate actions in case of Nodal trace
- It needs to perform
event correlation
For better search,
each query specified by the operator should be bounded by time intervals. The
shorter the interval specified, the lesser the amount of data to
be searched which results in faster query response.
IMPORTANT:
InTracer is a best-effort solution
and there can be possible losses of packet data even after successfully
processed by the R-InTracer / R-TCE. Such scenarios occur
since some packet information is cached and not persistently stored
immediately. All efforts are made internally to minimize such scenarios.
Event Filtering
Event filtering allows
operators to configure which packets to be processed/ignored
by the R-InTracer / R-TCE. Filtering can be done based
on the event type and/or protocol type.The R-InTracer / R-TCE
maintains statistical counters about the filtered packets, which
can later be used to verify this behaviour.
IMPORTANT:
Events that are filtered
out are not stored on persistent storage, hence cannot be queried later.
Packet-loss detection
Signaling packets may
be received by the R-InTracer / R-TCE over UDP. Since UDP
does not guarantee reliable packet delivery, such network losses
are detected by the R-InTracer / R-TCE at application level
and reported by generating alarms based on configuration.
Health Monitoring
Server heartbeat process
is part of Health Monitoring of InTracer components. This is not only
responsible for starting/stopping of all the processes,
but also has a watchdog function that ensures that:
- All the processes are
up
- Every process is functioning
normally
In an event where any
of the process is not up or not functioning normally as expected,
it can stop and restart the process to restore the system to processing
state.
It also has a function
to guard the system and notify the operator using logs and alarm against
persistent errors which need operator intervention.
Resource Monitoring
Resource Monitoring
has below two parts to monitor:
- CPU and Memory utilization
of the system and other individual processes
- Disk utilization for
Export, Data, Log, Crash Directories and for Disk itself
CPU and Memory utilization
of the system and other individual processes: Helps monitor
complete resource utilization of InTracer.
Below table describes
system resources of InTracer which can be monitored.
Process |
Description |
CPU Usage (%)
|
CPU utilization in
percentage for specific InTracer process.
|
Memory Usage (%)
|
System memory utilization
in percentage for specific InTracer process.
|
Disk Utilization Monitoring: Disk
utilization monitoring helps monitor Disk Utilization of various
components of InTracer.
Disk Utilization monitoring
provides for selected device name can be performed on the below
components of InTracer:
-
Mount Point: The
name of the mount point of storage device.
- Filesystem ID: The
identifier for Filesystem on storage device.
Maintenance Activities
The R-InTracer / R-TCE
performs various routine activities for the system maintenance and for
persistent storage. These activities include the following:
- Call event information
and SA Key information is stored for a configurable period configured
at install time
- Running DB verification
to ensure data is in proper and valid form
- Backup of InTracer
system state information, if enabled
- Compression of processing
log data, removal of older logs
These activities are
performed in background by UNIX cron jobs that are invoked periodically
by the system. Not all these activities are done in a single run.
These are shared across various invocations of the jobs at different
times of the day when the processing load on the R-InTracer / R-TCE
is assumed to be less. The R-InTracer / R-TCE facilitates
operators to specify configurations for all these activities. These
configurations can be performed through the InTracer clients.
Statistical Counters
The R-InTracer / R-TCE
process maintains current statistical information for each of its functions.
The InTracer clients provide an interface to view these statistics.
These statistics can be used to:
- Perform analysis of
call events
- Measure performance
of the AGW and the R-InTracer / R-TCE and health of the
link between them
C-InTracer Features
and Functions
The following are the
features and functions supported by the C-InTracer
Feature |
Configurable
|
Default
|
Nodal Trace
|
3GPP Trace
|
Query Processing
|
Yes
|
-
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
User Management
|
Yes
|
Enabled
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
System Configuration
|
Yes
|
Admin only
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Gateway Configuration
|
Yes
|
Admin only
|
No
|
Yes
|
Query Management
|
Yes
|
All users
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Audit Trail
|
Yes
|
30 days
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Health Monitoring
|
Yes
|
Enabled
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Resource Monitoring
|
Yes
|
Enabled (default threshold
values)
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Maintenance Activities
|
Yes
|
Enabled (daily midnight)
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Statistical Counters
|
No
|
Always
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Query Processing
For
C-InTracer(Nodal installation), Session related queries can be based
on IMSI, NAI, Call-Id, Disconnect reasons and so on, limited by
a time window.
For R-TCE (3gpp installation), Session related
queries can be based on IMSI, IMEI/IMEISV, Trace Session
reference, and so on, limited by a time window.
System Configuration
Use the system setup
to manage and configure In Tracer components such as the R-InTracer / R-TCE
Server, the C-InTracer and the Event Source.
Audit Trail
This keeps track of
various system activities such as User session login/logout
and configuration change activities. This audit trail is helpful
for troubleshooting and monitoring the system activities.
Health Monitoring
Server Hearth beat
process is part of Health Monitoring of InTracer components. This
is not only responsible for starting/stopping of all the
processes, but also has a watchdog function that ensures that:
- All the processes are
up
- Every process is functioning
normally
In an event where any
of the process is not up or not functioning normally as expected,
it can stop and restart the process to restore the system to processing
state.
It also has a function
to guard the system and notify the operator using logs and alarm against
persistent errors which need operator intervention.
Resource Monitoring
Resource Monitoring
has below two parts to monitor:
- CPU and Memory utilization
of the system and other individual processes
- Disk utilization for
Export, Data, Log, Crash Directories and for Disk itself
CPU and Memory utilization
of the system and other individual processes: Helps monitor
complete resource utilization of InTracer. Below table describes
system resources of InTracer which can be monitored.
Process |
Description |
CPU Usage (%)
|
CPU utilization in
percentage for specific InTracer process.
|
Memory Usage (%)
|
System memory utilization
in percentage for specific InTracer process.
|
Disk Utilization Monitoring Helps
monitor Disk Utilization of various components of InTracer. Disk
Utilization monitoring Provides for selected device name can be performed
on the below components of InTracer:
-
Mount Point: The
name of the mount point of storage device.
- Filesystem ID: The
identifier for Filesystem on storage device.
Maintenance Activities
The C-InTracer performs
various routine activities for the system maintenance and for persistent
storage. These activities include the following:
- Call event information
and SA Key information is stored for a max period of 30 days and
information exceeding this storage period is automatically deleted
by the server
- Running DB verification
to ensure data is in proper and valid form
- Backup of InTracer
system state information, if enabled
- Compression of processing
log data, removal of older logs
These activities are
performed in the background by UNIX cron jobs that are invoked periodically
by the system. Not all of these activities are done in a single
run. These are shared across various invocations of the jobs at
different times of the day when the processing load on the R-InTracer / R-TCE
is assumed to be less. The R-InTracer / R-TCE allows operators
to specify configurations for all of these activities. These configurations
can be performed through the InTracer clients.
Statistical Counters
The C-InTracer process
maintains current statistical information for each of its functions. Cumulative
statistics are collected on a daily basis and stored in the server
statistical database. The InTracer clients provide an interface
to view these statistics. These statistics can be used to:
- Perform analysis of
call events
- Measure performance
of the AGW and the R-InTracer / R-TCE and health of the
link between them
InTracer Web User Interface
A unified Web-based
user interface for performing configuration and querying in InTracer.