ETSI TS 183 066 V2.1.1 (2009-01)

Telecommunications and Internet converged Services and Protocols for Advanced Networking (TISPAN); Network Attachment Sub-System (NASS); a4 interface based on the DIAMETER protocol

DTS/TISPAN-03189-NGN-R2

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 11-Jan-2009
• Technical Committee: TISPAN 3 - TISPAN Protocols
• Current Stage: 12 - Completion
• Due Date: 19-Dec-2008
• Completion Date: 12-Jan-2009

Standards Content (Sample)

ETSI TS 183 066 V2.1.1 (2009-01)
Technical Specification


Telecommunications and Internet converged Services and
Protocols for Advanced Networking (TISPAN);
Network Attachment Sub-System (NASS);
a4 interface based on the DIAMETER protocol

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2 ETSI TS 183 066 V2.1.1 (2009-01)



Reference
DTS/TISPAN-03189-NGN-R2
Keywords
Stage 3, interface
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3 ETSI TS 183 066 V2.1.1 (2009-01)
Contents
Intellectual Property Rights . 5
Foreword . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 References . 6
2.1 Normative references . 6
2.2 Informative references . 7
3 Definitions and abbreviations . 7
3.1 Definitions . 7
3.2 Abbreviations . 7
4 Overview . . 8
5 Procedure descriptions . 8
5.1 General . 8
5.1.1 Information elements . 8
5.1.2 NASS User profile . 9
5.2 Procedures on the a4 interface . 10
5.2.1 Access profile push . 10
5.2.1.1 Overview . 10
5.2.1.2 Procedure at the UAAF side. 11
5.2.1.3 Procedure at the CLF side . 11
5.2.2 Access profile pull . 12
5.2.2.1 Overview . 12
5.2.2.2 Procedure at the CLF side . 13
5.2.2.3 Procedure at the UAAF side. 13
5.2.3 Remove Access Profile . 14
5.2.3.1 Overview . 14
5.2.3.2 Procedure at the UAAF side. 14
5.2.3.3 Procedure at the CLF side . 15
6 Use of the Diameter base protocol . 15
6.1 Securing Diameter Messages . 15
6.2 Accounting functionality . 15
6.3 Use of sessions . 15
6.4 Transport protocol . 15
6.5 Routing considerations . 16
6.6 Advertising Application Support . 16
7 DIAMETER application. 16
7.1 Commands . 16
7.1.1 User-Data-Request command . 17
7.1.2 User-Data-Answer command. 17
7.1.3 Push-Notification-Request command . 17
7.1.4 Push-Notification-Answer command . 18
7.2 Result-Code AVP values . 18
7.2.1 Success . 18
7.2.2 Permanent failures . 18
7.2.3 Transient failures . 19
7.3 AVPs . 19
7.3.1 Data-Operation-Indicator . 20
7.4 Use of namespaces . 20
7.4.1 AVP codes . 20
7.4.2 Experimental-Result-Code AVP values . 20
7.4.3 Command Code values . 21
7.4.4 Application-ID value . 21
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4 ETSI TS 183 066 V2.1.1 (2009-01)
Annex A (informative): Mapping of a4 operations and terminology to Diameter . 22
History . 23

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5 ETSI TS 183 066 V2.1.1 (2009-01)
Intellectual Property Rights
IPRs essential or potentially essential to the present document may have been declared to ETSI. The information
pertaining to these essential IPRs, if any, is publicly available for ETSI members and non-members, and can be found
in ETSI SR 000 314: "Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs); Essential, or potentially Essential, IPRs notified to ETSI in
respect of ETSI standards", which is available from the ETSI Secretariat. Latest updates are available on the ETSI Web
server (http://webapp.etsi.org/IPR/home.asp).
Pursuant to the ETSI IPR Policy, no investigation, including IPR searches, has been carried out by ETSI. No guarantee
can be given as to the existence of other IPRs not referenced in ETSI SR 000 314 (or the updates on the ETSI Web
server) which are, or may be, or may become, essential to the present document.
Foreword
This Technical Specification (TS) has been produced by ETSI Technical Committee Telecommunications and Internet
converged Services and Protocols for Advanced Networking (TISPAN).
ETSI

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6 ETSI TS 183 066 V2.1.1 (2009-01)
1 Scope
The present document defines a protocol applicable to the a4 interface between the User Access Authorization
Function (UAAF) and the Connectivity session Location and repository Function (CLF), based on the Diameter
protocol.
Whenever it is possible the present document specifies the requirements for this protocol by reference to specifications
produced by the IETF within the scope of Diameter. Where this is not possible, extensions to Diameter are defined
within the present document.
2 References
References are either specific (identified by date of publication and/or edition number or version number) or
non-specific.
• For a specific reference, subsequent revisions do not apply.
• Non-specific reference may be made only to a complete document or a part thereof and only in the following
cases:
- if it is accepted that it will be possible to use all future changes of the referenced document for the
purposes of the referring document;
- for informative references.
Referenced documents which are not found to be publicly available in the expected location might be found at
http://docbox.etsi.org/Reference.
NOTE: While any hyperlinks included in this clause were valid at the time of publication ETSI cannot guarantee
their long term validity.
2.1 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of the present document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For non-specific references, the latest edition of the referenced document
(including any amendments) applies.
[1] ETSI ES 282 004: "Telecommunications and Internet converged Services and Protocols for
Advanced Networking (TISPAN); NGN Functional Architecture; Network Attachment
Sub-System (NASS)".
[2] ETSI TS 129 229: "Digital cellular telecommunications system (Phase 2+); Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS); Cx and Dx interfaces based on the Diameter protocol;
Protocol details (3GPP TS 29.229)".
[3] ETSI TS 129 329: "Digital cellular telecommunications system (Phase 2+); Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS); Sh interface based on the Diameter protocol; Protocol
details (3GPP TS 29.329)".
[4] ETSI ES 283 034: " Telecommunications and Internet converged Services and Protocols for
Advanced Networking (TISPAN); Network Attachment Sub-System (NASS); e4 interface based
on the DIAMETER protocol".
[5] ETSI TS 183 020: " Telecommunications and Internet converged Services and Protocols for
Advanced Networking (TISPAN); Network Attachment: Roaming in TISPAN NGN Network
Accesses; Interface Protocol Definition".
[6] IETF RFC 2960: "Stream Control Transmission Protocol".
[7] IETF RFC 3309: "Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) Checksum Change".
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7 ETSI TS 183 066 V2.1.1 (2009-01)
[8] IETF RFC 3554: "On the Use of Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) with IPSec".
[9] IETF RFC 3588: "Diameter Base Protocol".
[10] ETSI TS 183 059-1: "Telecommunications and Internet Converged Services and Protocols for
Advanced Networks (TISPAN); Network Attachment Sub-System (NASS); a2 interface based on
the DIAMETER protocol".
2.2 Informative references
The following referenced documents are not essential to the use of the present document but they assist the user with
regard to a particular subject area. For non-specific references, the latest version of the referenced document (including
any amendments) applies.
Not applicable.
3 Definitions and abbreviations
3.1 Definitions
For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions apply:
Attribute-Value Pair (AVP): corresponds to an Information Element in a Diameter message
NOTE: See definition in RFC 3588 [9].
NASS User: See definition in ES 282 004 [1].
3.2 Abbreviations
For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations apply:
ABNF Augmented Backus-Naur Form
AVP Attribute-Value Pair
CLF Connectivity session Location and repository Function
CNGCF Customer Network Gateway Configuration Function
DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IP Internet Protocol
IPSec IP Security
NAS Network Access Server
NASS Network Attachment Sub-System
P-CSCF Proxy Call Session Control Function
PDBF Profile Data Base Function
PNA Push-Notification-Answer
PNR Push-Notification-Request
PPP Point-to-Point Protocol
RACS Resource and Admission Control Subsystem
RFC Request For Comments
SCTP Stream Control Transport Protocol
UAAF User Access Authorization Function
UDA User-Data-Answer
UDR User-Data-Request
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8 ETSI TS 183 066 V2.1.1 (2009-01)
4 Overview
The Network Attachment Sub-System (NASS), defined in ES 282 004 [1], maintains information about IPconnectivity
associated with NASS User connected to TISPAN networks.
The document specifies the protocol for the NASS a4 interface between the User Access Authorization Function
(UAAF) and the Connectivity session Location and repository Function (CLF), based on the Diameter protocol.
Service control
Scope of the present
subsystems and
document
applications
e2
Resource
e2
e4
Admission
CLF
Control
e2
Subsystem
e5
a2 a4
CNGCF NACF UAAF PDBF
e3
a1 a3
e1 e1
TE CNG
ARF AMF
UE

Figure 4.1: a4 interface
The a4 interface allows the CLF to register the association between the NASS User identity and the NASS User
preferences regarding the privacy of location information provided by the UAAF. The a4 interface is also used to
register NASS User network profile information (QoS profile). The CLF may retrieve the NASS User network profile
from the UAAF.
The UAAF - CLF relationship may be operated in pull mode or push mode. The push mode is used when the UAAF is
involved in the processing of network access requests in order to authorize or deny access to the network (e.g. when
explicit authentication is used). The pull mode is used when implicit authentication is used or in support of CLF
recovery procedures.
The following information flows are used on the a4 interface:
• Access Profile Push.
• Access Profile Pull.
• Remove Access Profile.
5 Procedure descriptions
5.1 General
5.1.1 Information elements
The following clauses describe the realization of the functional procedures defined in the NASS (ES 282 004 [1]) using
Diameter commands described in clause 7. This involves describing a mapping between the Information Elements
defined in the NASS specification (ES 282 004 [1]) and Diameter AVPs.
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9 ETSI TS 183 066 V2.1.1 (2009-01)
In the tables that describe this mapping, each Information Element is marked as (M) Mandatory, (C) Conditional or
(O) Optional:
• A mandatory Information Element (marked as (M) in the table) shall always be present in the command. If this
Information Element is absent, an application error occurs at the receiver and an answer message shall be sent
back to the originator of the request with the Result-Code set to DIAMETER_MISSING_AVP. This message
shall also include a Failed-AVP AVP containing the missing Information Element i.e. the corresponding
Diameter AVP defined by the AVP Code and the other fields set as expected for this Information Element.
• A conditional Information Element (marked as (C) in the table) shall be present in the command if certain
conditions are fulfilled:
- If the receiver detects that those conditions are fulfilled and the Information Element is absent, an
application error occurs and an answer message shall be sent back to the originator of the request with
the Result-Code set to DIAMETER_MISSING_AVP. This message shall also include a Failed-AVP
AVP containing the missing Information Element i.e. the corresponding Diameter AVP defined by the
AVP Code and the other fields set as expected for this Information Element. If multiple Information
Elements are missing, all corresponding AVP codes shall be included in the Failed-AVP AVP.
- If those conditions are not fulfilled, the Information Element shall be absent. If however this Information
Element appears in the message, it shall not cause an application error and it may be ignored by the
receiver if this is not explicitly defined as an error case. Otherwise, an application error occurs at the
receiver and an answer message with the Result-Code set to DIAMETER_AVP_NOT_ALLOWED shall
be sent back to the originator of the request. A Failed-AVP AVP containing a copy of the corresponding
Diameter AVP shall be included in this message.
• An optional Information Element (marked as (O) in the table) may be present or absent in the command, at the
discretion of the application at the sending entity. Absence or presence of this Information Element shall not
cause an application error and may be ignored by the receiver.
5.1.2 NASS User profile
NASS User profile information sent over the a4 interface comprises QoS profile information and initial gate setting
information. Each of these pieces of information may be sent in the form of an identifier using the QoS-Profile-ID and
Initial-Gate-Setting-ID AVPs or in the form of an explicit description using the QoS-Profile-Description and
Initial-Gate-Setting-Description AVPs.
Tables 5.1 and 5.2 detail the information elements involved in the second case as defined in the NASS specification
ES 282 004 [1] and their mapping to DIAMETER AVPs.
Table 5.1: Initial gate setting description
Information Mapping to Cat. Description
element name Diameter AVP
List of allowed NAS-Filter-Rule O In case of unicast data, the list of default destination IP addresses,
destinations as ports, prefixes and port ranges to which traffic can be sent. In case of
well as multicast, the list of IP-Multicast group addresses and/or the list of
multicast flows (Source IP address, IP-Multicast group address) pairs which traffic can
be received from by the attached NASS User.
List of denied NAS-Filter-Rule O In case of unicast, the list of default destination IP addresses, ports,
destinations as prefixes and port ranges to which traffic is denied. In case of multicast,
well as the list of IP-Multicast group addresses and/or the list of (Source IP
multicast flows
address, IP-Multicast group address) pairs for which traffic towards the
attached NASS User must be denied.
UL Subscribed Maximum-Allowed- O The maximum amount of bandwidth that can be used without explicit
Bandwidth Bandwidth-UL authorization in the uplink direction.
DL Subscribed Maximum-Allowed- O The maximum amount of bandwidth that can be used without explicit
Bandwidth Bandwidth-DL authorization in the downlink direction.

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10 ETSI TS 183 066 V2.1.1 (2009-01)
Table 5.2: QoS profile description
Information Mapping to Cat. Description
element name Diameter AVP
Transport Transport-Class O The transport class applicable to the QoS Profile Information.
service class
Media-Type Media-Type O The media type applicable to the QoS Profile information.
UL Subscribed Maximum-Allowed- O The maximum amount of bandwidth subscribed by the attached NASS
Bandwidth Bandwidth-UL User in the uplink direction.
DL Subscribed Maximum-Allowed- O The maximum amount of bandwidth subscribed by the attached NASS
Bandwidth Bandwidth-DL User in the downlink direction.
Maximum Reservation-Priority O The maximum priority allowed for any reservation request.
Priority
Requestor Application Class ID O Identifies the application class(es) that are allowed to request
Name resources for the QoS profile.

5.2 Procedures on the a4 interface
5.2.1 Access profile push
5.2.1.1 Overview
This procedure is used to push the Access Profile information from the UAAF to the CLF. This information flow occurs
when a NASS User has been successful authenticated or in case a modification occurs on a profile that has already been
pushed to the CLF.
UAAF may decide to send in the same Access Profile Push some profiles in the form of a profile id (because the actual
profile information is assumed to be available in the CLF) and some other profiles in the form of full profile
descriptions. This information is retrieved from the PDBF by the UAAF.
This procedure is mapped to the commands Push-Notification-Request/Answer in the Diameter application specified in
clause 7. Tables 5.3 and 5.4 detail the involved information elements as defined in the NASS specification
ES 282 004 [1] and their mapping to Diameter AVPs.
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11 ETSI TS 183 066 V2.1.1 (2009-01)
Table 5.3: Access Profile Push
Information Mapping to Diameter Cat. Description
element name AVP
Globally Unique Globally-Unique-Address O This information element contains:
IP Address
• The IP address of the NASS User for which profile
information is being pushed.
• The addressing domain in which the IP address is
significant.
Logical Access Logical-Access-Id M The identity of the logical access to which the user equipment is
ID connected.
NASS User ID User-Name O The NASS User that is attached to the network (see note).
Physical Physical-Access-Id O The identity of the physical access to which the user equipment is
Access ID connected.
CNGCF CNGCF-Address O The address of the CNGCF entity from which configuration data
address may be retrieved by the user equipment.
P-CSCF SIP-Outbound-Proxy O The Identity of the P-CSCF for accessing IMS services.
Identity
(optional)
Initial Gate Initial-Gate-Setting or O See clause 5.1, table 1.
Setting Initial-Gate-Setting-ID
QoS Profile QoS-Profile or QoS- O See clause 5.1, table 2.
Profile-ID
Privacy Privacy-Indicator O Whether location information can be exported to services and
Indicator applications.
Data Operation Data-Operation-Indicator O Whether the Access Profile of the NASS User shall be updated or
Indication removed. See clause 7.3.1 for the Default value.
NOTE: Ths NASS User ID shall be included if available in the UAAF.

Table 5.4: Access Profile Push response
Information Mapping to Diameter AVP Cat. Description
element name
Result Result-Code / Experimental_ M Result of the request.
Result Result-Code AVP shall be used for errors defined in the
Diameter Base Protocol.
Experimental-Result AVP shall be used for other errors. This
is a grouped AVP which contains a Vendor-Id AVP, and the
error code in the Experimental-Result-Code AVP.

5.2.1.2 Procedure at the UAAF side
The UAAF knows the address of the CLF entity where the information should be pushed, either from configuration data
or from the NASS User profile (i.e. received from the PDBF).
The UAAF shall populate the Access Profile Push as follows:
• The Logical-Access-ID AVP shall be present.
• In case PPP is applied, the Globally-Unique-Address AVP shall be present. In case DHCP is applied, this AVP
is optional. The Globally-Unique-Address AVP shall contain a Frame-IP-Address or Frame-IPv6-Prefix AVP
value, and an Address-Realm AVP.
• If available in the UAAF, the User-Name AVP shall be present.
• In case PPP is applied, the Physical-Access-Id AVP may be present.
The presence of the other AVPs depends on the NASS User profile and local policy rules.
5.2.1.3 Procedure at the CLF side
If the Logical-Access-ID AVP is not present or is invalid, the CLF shall return an Access Profile Push response with a
Result-Code AVP value set to DIAMETER_INVALID_AVP_VALUE.
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12 ETSI TS 183 066 V2.1.1 (2009-01)
If the Logical Access ID contained in the Logical-Access-ID AVP is not known, the CLF shall:
• Create an internal record to store the received information for future use (e.g. push the Access Profile to the
RACS).
If the Logical Access ID contained in the Logical-Access-ID AVP is already known, the CLF shall:
• Replace the entire content of the internal record with the received information for future use (e.g. push the
Access Profile to the RACS).
• Push the updated Access Profile to RACS if appropriate.
If the contents of the request are invalid the CLF shall return an Access Profile Push response with a Result-Code AVP
value set to the appropriate value.
If the CLF cannot fulfil the received request for reasons not stated in the above steps, e.g. due to database error, it shall
stop processing the request and return an Access Profile Push response with a Result-Code AVP value set to
DIAMETER_UNABLE_TO_COMPLY or an Experimental-Result-Code AVP set to
DIAMETER_SYSTEM_UNAVAILABLE. In the later case, the UAAF is expected to retry after a provisioned time
period.
Otherwise, the requested operation shall take place and the CLF shall return the Result-Code AVP set to
DIAMETER_SUCCESS in the Access Profile Push response.
5.2.2 Access profile pull
5.2.2.1 Overview
The Access Profile Pull information flow is used by the CLF to request the Access Profile information from the UAAF.
This information flow is used when the CLF - UAAF operates in pull mode or in the context of CLF recovery
procedures.
This procedure is mapped to the commands User-Data-Request/Answer in the Diameter application specified in
clause 7. Tables 5 and 6 detail the involved information elements as defined in the NASS specification ES 282 004 [1]
and their mapping to Diameter AVPs.
Table 5.5: Access Profile Pull request
Information Mapping to Cat. Description
element name Diameter AVP
Globally unique Globally-Unique- C This information element
...