SMF

Creation of GBR Bearer Based on Local Policy

SMF allows creating GBR bearers based on local policies in 4G and 5G RATs.

Default Setting: Disabled – Configuration required to enable

DRB Level Data Forwarding in IDFT for N2-based Handover

SMF supports DRB level data forwarding, in case the Data forwarding response DRB List is present in the Handover Request Acknowledge message and it doesn’t meet the criteria for Session Level Forwarding.

MBFR, Semantic and Syntactic Error Handling for 4G and 5G

SMF handles MBFR, semantic and syntactic errors in QFI, QoS and indicates 5GSM cause. Configurations using event names, rules, and actions are included for 4G and 5G errors.

Default Setting: Disabled – Configuration required to enable

Minimizing SMF and PCF interactions on the N7 interface

For the N7 optimization support, the SMF skips the N7 Update message by sending the UE IP address in the N7 Create message.

Default Setting: Enabled – Always-on

Minimizing SMF and UDM interactions on N10 interface through fail open support

With the fail open feature, the SMF supports the ignore and continue failure handling actions as well for the call during the N10 message failures. These failures include the UDM registration, Subscriber Fetch, and Subscribe to Notify for all RAT types.

Default Setting: Enabled – Always-on

Minimizing Session Loss During Application VIP switchover

The High Availability redundancy support is enhanced in SMF in a way that when the gRPC IPC stream breaks, the App-Infra library retries immediately and the IPC connection is reestablished between gRPC endpoints within milliseconds.

N4 Resource or Association Release

SMF supports clearing resources related to a particular UPF from the SMF using a CLI release-resource .

Default Setting: Disabled – Configuration required to enable

Network Address Translation Binding Updates

SMF supports NAT Binding Record functionality where, N4 Session Report Request Message is used for providing NAT Binding Record Information from UPF to SMF. After SMF receives NAT Binding Record Information from UPF, it sends the corresponding NAT Binding Updates to the AAA Server over the RADIUS interface.

Default Setting: Disabled – Configuration required to enable

SBI Message Priority Enhancement

The SBI Message Priority (SMP) mechanism uses the "3gpp-Sbi-Message-Priority" custom HTTP header to set and carry the message priority between the client and the server. The custom HTTP header enforces the message priority end to end between the client and the server through one or more proxies.

Default Setting: Disabled – Configuration required to enable

Support for ePCO length and Local IP in TFT

SMF allows ePCO length with two octets for QoS rules and QoS descriptions and indicate local IP address in TFT.

Default Setting: Enabled – Always-on

cnPGWc

Asynchronous and Synchronous Usage Report for Offline Bearer Recalculation

As part of Gz Usage Reporting, SMF receives Asynchronous and Synchronous Usage Reporting for Offline Bearer recalculation.

Default Setting: Disabled – Configuration required to enable

EGCDR Final Record Closing Cause

This feature allows you to send a unique record closure reason for final CDR through CLI configuration.

Default Setting: Enabled – Always-on

Final Unit Indication (FUI) support in CCR-U

Gz Default Bearer Modification

This feature allows PCRF-initiated modification of a default Bearer through Gx CCR-U and Gx RAR. You can perform the following functions:

• Add rules to the Default Bearer

• Delete rules from the Default Bearer

• Rulebase Modification

• Default-bearer QoS change

• APN-AMBR change

HSS-Initiated Bearer QoS Modification

SMF supports the HSS Initiated Bearer QoS Modification procedure to modify APN-AMBR and optionally one or more of the EPS Bearer QoS parameters.

Default Setting: Enabled – Always-on

Handling Modify Bearer Request Triggers

SMF receives the Modify Bearer Request from S-GW for the User Location and TimeZone changes, change notifications. SMF supports N4 Query Interface and Recalculate Interface IEs for Rulebase change, Secondary RAT Usage limit, and Record closing triggers.

Default Setting: Disabled – Configuration required to enable

Periodic Report of Secondary RAT Usage

This feature allows SMF to handle periodic Secondary RAT data volume report messages from the MME over the S5 or S8 interface in the Modify Bearer Request, Change Notification Request, Delete Session Request, and Delete Bearer Response

Default Setting: Disabled – Configuration required to enable

Same dictionary support extended to RAR messages.

In the previous releases, for CCR-I, CCA-U, and CCA-T messages, the dictionary specified under the client, which is a custom dictionary, was applied. For a RAR message, a common dictionary was being used. With this release, RAR messages also use the same dictionary that CCR-I, CCA-U, and CCA-T messages use.

Use of Credit-Control-Failure-Handling AVP for Gy request failure handling

The SMF uses the value of Credit-Control-Failure-Handling AVP to derive the Gy request failure handling behavior when the requests are prevented due to a network problem.

Default Setting: Enabled – Always-on

VRF support for Diameter Gx and Gy interfaces

SMF supports the client-side VRF for the Diameter Gx and Gy interfaces. The profile Diameter endpoint refers to the VRF name and interface name that you configure from the Diameter endpoint. The Diameter endpoint uses the VRF name to create a TCP connection from the Diameter client.

Default Setting: Enabled – Always-on

Zero CDR Suppression Support on the Gz Interface

This feature allows you to suppress CDR records based on the egcdr suppress-cdrs zero-volume CLI.

Default Setting: Disabled – Configuration required to enable

Call Handling in the Absence of PCF Configuration in DNN Profile

Previous Behavior: SMF mandated the configuration of PCF/PCRF in DNN profile even when the local policy was configured through the pcf-interaction command.

New Behavior: PCF or PCRF configuration remains optional if the local policy is configured. Subscriber call setup is successful even in the absence of PCF or PCRF configuration in the DNN profile.

DLDR Handling for N3 Connection Reactivation

Previous Behavior: SMF didn’t trigger the N1N2 setup request on the N11 interface when UPF received the Downlink Data Request (DLDR). The difference in the upContext state between SMF and UPF resulted in UPF triggering the DLDR. With the N3 in an inactive state, UPF used to send the session report request to SMF.

New Behavior: The new CLI command reactivate-n3-on-dupl-activation-dldr is added in the supported features at SMF to reactivate the N3 when DLDR is received in the N3 activated state. After this CLI is enabled and if the DLDR is received in the ACTIVATED state, then SMF changes the upState to DEACTIVATED and reactivates the N3 connection.

DWR/DWA Message Handling

Previous Behavior: Diameter peer was considered down only if sending Device Watchdog Request (DWR) failed. Even if the Device Watchdog Answer (DWA) wasn’t received or was received with an error result-code, the peer wasn’t considered in the error state.

New Behavior: In addition to the failure in sending a DWR, even if the DWA isn’t received or is received with the error result-code, the peer is considered to be in the error state.

Non-Standard PLMN List Configuration for MccMncExceptionList Dynamic Update

Previous Behavior: No CLI command existed for the nonstandard PLMN values.

New Behavior: The new non-standard-plmn-list CLI command is added in the SMF profile. Use this command to enable SMF to update the MccMncExceptionList dynamically.

Processing GTPv2 Modify Bearer Request Messages

Previous Behavior: At the time of GTPv2 MBReq message processing, Modify Bearer Request (MBR) from a Visitor PLMN (V-PLMN) or any PLMN was accepted by PGW-C+SMF.

New Behavior: If the inter-plmn CLI isn’t configured in PGW-C+SMF, MBR from a V-PLMN is rejected by PGW-C+SMF. To handle handovers from V-PLMN, configuring the inter-plmn-ho in the DNN profile is mandatory.

QER Request Creation to UPF During N4 Session Establishment

Previous Behavior: If the predefined rules are mapped to a dedicated flow or dedicated bearer, the SMF didn’t send the Create QER Request to the UPF.

New Behavior: If the predefined rules are mapped to a dedicated flow or dedicated, the SMF sends the Create QER Request for both default and dedicated flows to the UPF.

Routing CCR-U/CCR-T Message to the Bounded Peer from CCR-I/U or CCA-I/U Message

Previous Behavior: No bounded peer existed.

New Behavior: The peer with which the last CCR-I/U interaction happened is considered as the bounded peer. Route matching the bounded peer is given the highest priority for sending subsequent CCR-U/T messages.

Statistics Updates for Internal Transaction Triggered for RAR Scenario

Previous Behavior: When the Modify Bearer Request (MBR) or Modify Bearer Command (MBC) triggered a RADIUS update towards the RADIUS accounting server, the procType label was updated as PDU Session Modify - SMF initiated.

For Gy metrics, the proc_name label displayed the PDU Session Modify - SMF initiated value.

New Behavior: The new statistics PDN Session Modify - PCRF initiated is added for this scenario.

Wait Time Display for Ongoing Bulk clear Subscriber CLI and Blocking the Consecutive CLI

Previous Behavior: The Ops Center didn't display the expected waiting time for an ongoing bulk clear subscriber CLI command. In addition, you could run the clear subscriber CLI while the processing of the earlier CLI was still in progress.

New Behavior: The Ops Center displays the expected waiting time for an ongoing bulk clear subscriber CLI command. In addition, the clear subscriber CLI gets blocked while the processing of the earlier CLI is in progress.

Customer Impact: Ease of use and maintenance in processing of the subscriber profiles.