Stateless NGAP Protocol EP Deployment

Table 1. Feature History

Feature Name

Release Information

Description

Stateless NGAP Protocol EP Deployment

 2025.03.0

You can now enable horizontal scaling of AMF NGAP protocol pods by transitioning from an existing Active-Standby mode of deployment to an Active-Active deployment model.

Command introduced:

amf-services amf_service_name { stateless-proto-ep enabled } — Used to enable the stateless protocol EP deployment.

Default Setting: Disabled – Configuration Required

We highly recomment to use the NGAP stateless protocol feature for higher scalability and more robust deployment model.


Note

Rolling upgrade is not supported when migrating from a replication-based (i.e., stateful) deployment model to a stateless deployment mode. However, rolling upgrade works seamlessly across different software versions within the stateless mode of protocol EP deployment.

The load distribution mechanism is based on gNBs connected to AMF, if some gNB's are overloaded with subscribers, there may be some variation in the resource consumption of NGAP protocol pods.

Guidelines for Stateless Protocol EP Deployment

Follow these guidelines when implementing this feature:

  • Enabling/Disabling of NGAP stateless protocol feature requires AMF ops-cnter shut/start.

  • Default configuration includes two Protocol-EP pods deployed in Active-Active mode.

  • Scaling up to five Protocol-EP pods is supported and requires AMF ops center shut/start.

Enable Stateless Protocol EP Deployment

Procedure

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. Enter the amf-services configuration mode.
  2. Enable the stateless protocol EP deployment for the specified amf service.
  3. Save and commit the configuration.
  4. To disable the stateless protocol EP deployment, run the following command.

DETAILED STEPS

Step 1

Enter the amf-services configuration mode.

amf-services amf_service_name

Step 2

Enable the stateless protocol EP deployment for the specified amf service.

stateless-proto-ep enabled

Step 3

Save and commit the configuration.

Step 4

To disable the stateless protocol EP deployment, run the following command.

no amf-services am1 stateless-proto-ep

Note

 

  • Enabling or disabling the stateless protocol feature requires ops-center shut/start. It is not recommended to enable/disable this feature at runtime as it impacts active sessions.

  • The feature is disabled by default.

  • Any change in the number of Protocol-EP pods require a shutdown and start of the AMF ops-center.

Scale Stateless Protocol EP Deployment

Procedure

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. Configure the instance instance-id in the AMF configuration mode.
  2. Use the following command to scale the deployment by setting the number of replicas per node.
  3. Use the following command to scale the deployment by setting the number of nodes.
  4. Save and commit the configuration.

DETAILED STEPS

Step 1

Configure the instance instance-id in the AMF configuration mode.

instance instance-id instance_id

Step 2

Use the following command to scale the deployment by setting the number of replicas per node.

endpoint ngap replicas replica_count

Step 3

Use the following command to scale the deployment by setting the number of nodes.

endpoint ngap nodes node_count

Step 4

Save and commit the configuration.