Solution Overview

Table Of Contents

Solution Overview

Solution Overview

Cisco SCE Platform

Policy and Service Configuration

Real-Time Subscriber Management and Control

Reports

Solution Overview

This module describes the logical components that make up the Cisco SCA BB solution. The SCA BB solution can serve as a platform for service creation for a service provider.

• Solution Overview

• Cisco SCE Platform

• Policy and Service Configuration

• Real-Time Subscriber Management and Control

• Reports

Solution Overview

The following two diagrams illustrate the high level architecture of the SCA BB solution when integrated in a typical service provider environment, showing the major components and the relationships between them. The first diagram shows the SCA BB solution including the Subscriber Manager component. The second diagram shows direct integration with the SCE platform (also known as SM-less integration). In this case, the SM component is not included and the 3rd party Policy Server communicates directly with the SCE platform.

Figure 1-1 Cisco SCA BB Solution Eco System including SM

Figure 1-2 Cisco SCA BB Solution Eco System - SM-less integration

Cisco SCE Platform

The Cisco SCE platform is a hardware accelerated, deep packet inspection device that forms the core of the solution. In a service creation scenario, the SCE platform is deployed inline on the subscriber IP data path, providing deep packet inspection and application/protocol recognition along with the enforcement of the relevant policies, per subscriber, according to the customer business logic.

The device is configured and monitored through NMS (over CLI, SNMP) and a number of proprietary tools used for service configuration, subscriber management, and multi-unit configuration. All of the tools are combined in the SCA BB Console application. The platform is subscriber aware (see Real-Time Subscriber Management and Control ), and can be used for usage-based services, for example, subscriber level quota management and billing. The platform also generates network usage data at various granularities for monitoring and analysis purposes.

More details on the SCE platform and its various configuration interfaces can be found in the Cisco SCE 2000 4xGBE Installation and Configuration Guide and in the Cisco SCE 2000 4xGBE Quick Start Guide .

Policy and Service Configuration

Policy and service configuration refers to the static system configuration that defines the way traffic is analyzed and controlled globally, in addition to the various policies available for controlling specific subscriber traffic.

A policy definition according to the customer business logic is a prerequisite for any deployment, and provides the context for the definition of the other aspects of the solution.

Policy and service configuration is created using the SCA BB Console or using the SCA BB Service Configuration API. The service configuration is compiled into a proprietary file format called PQB, which can be applied to the SCE platform through the SCA BB Console or through the servconfcommand line utility.

Note For policy enforcement, the policy and service configuration needs to be applied prior to subscriber traffic coming through the SCE.

Service configuration is detailed in the Cisco Service Control Application for Broadband User Guide and in the Cisco SCA BB Service Configuration API Programmer Guide .

Real-Time Subscriber Management and Control

Subscriber management is required to be real-time for a subscriber aware solution in a dynamic-IP or dynamic policy environment. This aspect of the solution provides the capabilities related to:

•Mapping network IP addresses, or other network identifiers, to managed subscriber entities

•Real-time control of the policy applied to a subscriber

•Application of usage-quota restrictions

•Using other aspects of dynamic policy management such as self-care portals, turbo-buttons, etc.

The Cisco Service Control Subscriber Manager component provides most of this subscriber related functionality and APIs.

The SCA BB solution also facilitates subscriber management using direct integration with the SCE platform. In many cases, this is beneficial to service providers who may better utilize existing applications (e.g. when the provider already invested in a complete Policy Server or similar system). The service provider may also decrease the number of deployed and managed network elements by eliminating the Cisco Service Control Subscriber Manager component and thereby optimize overall operational expenses.

Direct integration generally simplifies the deployment; however, the application that communicates to the SCE platform must implement some functionality that was previously provided by the Cisco Service Control Subscriber Manager. This includes: support for multiple SCE units, addressing high availability issues by supporting redundancy schemes, and different cases of fail-over.

Subscriber management integration can be implemented using two integration modes: Push and Pull. These modes utilize different sequences of events for subscriber logins. In Push mode, the external entity such as the Policy Server triggers a subscriber creation or update and provisions the information to the SCE prior to the subscriber sending data traffic. In Pull mode, the SCE identifies subscribers upon receiving data traffic belonging to an unknown (anonymous) source. It then queries the Policy Server by sending a request to provide the subscriber identity and thus triggering the login operation. The Policy Server will provision the required subscriber information back to the SCE.

Note that subscriber management and quota provisioning functionality may be implemented by two separate applications and in this case the SCE should be integrated with both of them.

The SCE is also able to extract subscriber identity information by intercepting RADIUS or DHCP traffic (when it comes through the box), which allows for a level of "automatic" provisioning of the subscribers. It may significantly simplify the initial login process of subscribers while further actions for policy update and quota management are done by the Policy Server and the Quota Management system.

More details can be found in the Cisco SCMS Subscriber Manager User Guide , the Cisco SCMS Subscriber Manager Java API Programmer's Guide , the Cisco SCMS Subscriber Manager C/C++ API Programmer's Guide , and the Cisco SCMS SCE Subscriber API Programmer's Guide .

Reports

The Cisco SCA BB reporting solution includes the generation, collection, and aggregation of network usage as analyzed by the SCE devices. The data is available in several granularities, and is tailored for use in several scenarios such as: network analysis and trend determination, postpaid billing, and offline auditing.

Cisco SCA BB enables the collection of Raw Data Records (RDRs) through its Collection Manager software. RDRs can be stored in a JDBC compliant database or written to file depending on their type and the use case addressed by the customer. Reporting tools (either proprietary or generic) can be used to present the collected information. The SCA BB solution includes a reporter application as part of the SCA BB Console.

Reporting is a major function in most implementations of the Cisco SCA BB solution. However, it is not directly related to Service Creation, and therefore will not be discussed here.

More details on reporting can be found in the Cisco SCMS Collection Manager User Guide .