Direct Tunnel


Direct Tunnel
 
This chapter briefly describes the 3G/4G UMTS direct tunnel (DT) feature, indicates how it is implemented on various systems on a per call basis, and provides feature configuration procedures.
Products supporting direct tunnel include:
Important: Direct tunnel is a licensed Cisco feature. A separate feature license may be required. Contact your Cisco account representative for detailed information on specific licensing requirements. For information on installing and verifying licenses, refer to the Managing License Keys section of the Software Management Operations chapter in the System Administration Guide.
The SGSN determines if setup of a direct tunnel is allowed or disallowed. Currently, the SGSN and S-GW are the only products that provide configuration commands for this feature. All other products that support direct tunnel do so by default.
This chapter provides the following information:
Direct Tunnel Feature Overview
The direct tunnel architecture allows the establishment of a direct user plane (GTP-U) tunnel between the radio access network equipment (RNC) and the GGSN/P-GW.
Once a direct tunnel is established, the SGSN/S-GW continues to handle the control plane (RANAP/GTP-C) signaling and retains the responsibility of making the decision to establish direct tunnel at PDN context activation.
GTP-U Direct Tunneling
A direct tunnel improves the user experience (for example, expedites web page delivery, reduces round trip delay for conversational services) by eliminating switching latency from the user plane. An additional advantage, direct tunnel functionality implements optimization to improve the usage of user plane resources (and hardware) by removing the requirement from the SGSN/S-GW to handle the user plane processing.
A direct tunnel is achieved upon PDN context activation in the following ways:
3G network: The SGSN establishes a user plane (GTP-U) tunnel directly between the RNC and the GGSN, using an Updated PDN Context Request toward the GGSN.
Direct Tunneling - 3G Network
LTE network: When Gn/Gp interworking with pre-release 8 (3GPP) SGSNs is enabled, the GGSN service on the P-GW supports direct tunnel functionality. The SGSN establishes a user plane (GTP-U) tunnel directly between the RNC and the GGSN/P-GW, using an Update PDN Context Request toward the GGSN/P-GW.
Direct Tunneling - LTE Network, GTP-U Tunnel
LTE network: The SGSN establishes a user plane tunnel (GTP-U tunnel over an S12 interface) directly between the RNC and the S-GW, using an Update PDN Context Request toward the S-GW.
Direct Tunneling - LTE Network, S12 Interface
A major consequence of deploying a direct tunnel is that it produces a significant increase in control plane load on both the SGSN/S-GW and GGSN/P-GW components of the packet core. Hence, deployment requires highly scalable GGSNs/P-GWs since the volume and frequency of Update PDP Context messages to the GGSN/P-GW will increase substantially. The SGSN/S-GW platform capabilities ensure control plane capacity will not be a limiting factor with direct tunnel deployment.
The following figure illustrates the logic used within the SGSN/S-GW to determine if a direct tunnel will be setup.
Direct Tunneling - Establishment Logic
Direct Tunnel Configuration
The following configurations are provided in this section:
Configuring Direct Tunnel Support on the SGSN
By default, direct tunnel support is
disallowed on the SGSN/S-GW
allowed on the GGSN/P-GW.
The SGSN/S-GW direct tunnel functionality is enabled within an operator policy configuration. One aspect of an operator policy is to allow or disallow the setup of direct GTP-U tunnels. If no operator policies are configured, the system looks at the settings in the system operator policy named default.
For more information about operator policies and configuration details, refer to the Operator Policy chapter also in this guide.
Important: If direct tunnel is allowed in the default operator policy, then any incoming call that does not have an applicable operator policy configured will have direct tunnel allowed.
The following is a high-level view of the steps, and the associated configuration examples, to configure the SGSN to setup a direct tunnel.
Before beginning any of the following procedures, you must have completed (1) the basic service configuration for the SGSN, as described in the Cisco ASR Serving GPRS Support Node Administration Guide, and (2) the creation and configuration of a valid operator policy, as described in the Operator Policy chapter in this guide.
Step 1
Step 2
Important: It is only necessary to complete either step 2 or step 3 as a direct tunnel can not be setup on the basis of call filtering matched with both an APN profile and an IIMEI profile.
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
(Optional) Configure the SGSN to disallow direct tunnel setup to a single GGSN that has been configured to allow it in the APN profile. This command allows the operator to restrict use of a GGSN for any reason, such as load balancing. Refer to the direct-tunnel-disabled-ggsn command in the SGTP Service Configuration Mode chapter of the Command Line Interface Reference.
Step 6
Save your configuration to flash memory, an external memory device, and/or a network location using the Exec mode command save configuration. For additional information on how to verify and save configuration files, refer to the System Administration Guide and the Command Line Interface Reference.
Step 7
Check that your configuration changes have been saved by using the sample configuration found in the Verifying the SGSN Direct Tunnel Configuration section in this chapter.
Enabling Setup of GTP-U Direct Tunnels
The SGSN determines whether a direct tunnel can be setup and by default the SGSN doesn’t support direct tunnel.
Example Configuration
Enabling direct tunnel setup on an SGSN is done by configuring direct tunnel support in a call-control profile.
config
      call-control-profile <policy_name>
         direct-tunnel attempt-when-permitted
         end
Notes:
Enabling Direct Tunnel per APN
In each operator policy, APN profiles are configured to connect to one or more GGSNs and to control the direct tunnel access to that GGSN based on call filtering by APN. Multiple APN profiles can be configured per operator policy.
By default, APN-based direct tunnel functionality is allowed so any existing direct tunnel configuration must be removed to return to default and to ensure that the setup has not been restricted.
Example Configuration
The following is an example of the commands used to ensure that direct tunneling, to a GGSN(s) identified in the APN profile, is enabled:
config
   apn-profile <profile_name>
      remove direct tunnel
      end
Notes:
Enabling Direct Tunnel per IMEI
Some operator policy filtering of calls is done on the basis of international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) so the direct tunnel setup may rely upon the feature configuration in the IMEI profile.
The IMEI profile basis its permissions for direct tunnel on the RNC configuration associated with the IuPS service.
By default, direct tunnel functionality is enabled for all RNCs.
Example Configuration
The following is an example of the commands used to enable direct tunneling in the IMEI profile:
config
   imei-profile <profile_name>
      direct-tunnel check-iups-service
      end
Notes:
Enabling Direct Tunnel to Specific RNCs
SGSN access to radio access controllers (RNCs) is configured in the IuPS service.
Each IuPS service can include multiple RNC configurations that determine communications and features depending on the RNC.
By default, direct tunnel functionality is enabled for all RNCs.
Example Configuration
The following is an example of the commands used to ensure that restrictive configuration is removed and direct tunnel for the RNC is enabled:
config
   context <ctx_name>
      iups-service <service_name>
         rnc id <rnc_id>
            default direct-tunnel
            end
Notes:
Verifying the SGSN Direct Tunnel Configuration
Enabling the setup of a GTP-U direct tunnel on the SGSN is not a straight forward task. It is controlled by an operator policy with related configuration in multiple components. Each of these component configurations must be checked to ensure that the direct tunnel configuration has been completed. You need to begin with the operator policy itself.
Verifying the Operator Policy Configuration
For the feature to be enabled, it must be allowed in the call-control profile and the call-control profile must be associated with an operator policy. As well, either an APN profile or an IMEI profile must have been created/configured and associated with the same operator policy. Use the following command to display and verify the operator policy and the association of the required profiles:
show operator-policy full name <policy_name>
The output of this command displays profiles associated with the operator policy.
[local]asr5x00# show operator-policy full name oppolicy1
Operator Policy Name = oppolicy1
Call Control Profile Name                                 : ccprofile1
Validity                                                 : Valid
IMEI Range 99999999999990 to 99999999999995
IMEI Profile Name                                        : imeiprofile1
Validity                                               : Invalid
APN NI homers1
APN Profile Name                                             : apnprofile1
Validity                                               : Valid
APN NI visitors2
APN Profile Name                                             : apnprofile2
Validity                                                 : Invalid
Notes:
Verifying the Call-Control Profile Configuration
Use the following command to display and verify the direct tunnel configuration for the call-control profiles:
show call-control-profile full name <profile_name>
The output of this command displays all of the configuration, including direct tunnel for the specified call-control profile.
Call Control Profile Name = ccprofile1
...
Re-Authentication                                         : Disabled
Direct Tunnel                                             : Not Restricted
GTPU Fast Path                                            : Disabled
..
Verifying the APN Profile Configuration
Use the following command to display and verify the direct tunnel configuration in the APN profile:
show apn-profile full name <profile_name>
The output of this command displays all of the configuration, including direct tunnel for the specified APN profile.
Call Control Profile Name = apnprofile1
...
IP Source Validation                                      : Disabled
Direct Tunnel                                             : Not Restricted
Service Restriction for Access Type > UMTS                : Disabled
..
Verifying the IMEI Profile Configuration
Use the following command to display and verify the direct tunnel configuration in the IMEI profile:
show imei-profile full name <profile_name>
The output of this command displays all of the configuration, including direct tunnel for the specified IMEI profile.
IMEI Profile Name = imeiprofile1
Black List                                             : Disabled
GGSN Selection                                          : Disabled
Direct Tunnel                                           : Enabled
Verifying the RNC Configuration
Use the following command to display and verify the direct tunnel configuration in the RNC configuration:
show iups-service name <service_name>
The output of this command displays all of the configuration, including direct tunnel for the specified IuPS service.
IService name                        : iups1
...
Available RNC:
  Rnc-Id                             : 1
  Direct Tunnel                      : Not Restricted
Configuring S12 Direct Tunnel Support on the S-GW
The example in this section configures an S12 interface supporting direct tunnel bypass of the S4 SGSN for inter-RAT handovers.
The direct tunnel capability on the S-GW is enabled by configuring an S12 interface. The S4 SGSN is then responsible for creating the direct tunnel by sending an FTEID in a control message to the MME over the S3 interface. The MME forwards the FTEID to the S-GW over the S11 interfaces. The S-GW responds with it’s own U-FTEID providing the SGSN with the identification information required to set up the direct tunnel over the S12 interface.
Use the following example to configure this feature:
configure
   context <egress_context_name> -noconfirm
      interface <s12_interface_name>
         ip address <s12_ipv4_address_primary>
         ip address <s12_ipv4_address_secondary>
         exit
      exit
   port ethernet <slot_number/port_number>
      no shutdown
      bind interface <s12_interface_name> <egress_context_name>
      exit
   context <egress_context_name> -noconfirm
      gtpu-service <s12_gtpu_egress_service_name>
         bind ipv4-address <s12_interface_ip_address>
         exit
      egtp-service <s12_egtp_egress_service_name>
         interface-type interface-sgw-egress
         validation-mode default
         associate gtpu-service <s12_gtpu_egress_service_name>
         gtpc bind address <s12_interface_ip_address>
         exit
      sgw-service <sgw_service_name> -noconfirm
         associate egress-proto gtp egress-context <egress_context_name> egtp-service <s12_egtp_egress_service_name>
         end
Notes:
 
 

Cisco Systems Inc.
Tel: 408-526-4000
Fax: 408-527-0883