Table of Contents
MSC SERVER R14 BLADE CLUSTER OVERVIEW.............................1
1 BENEFITS AND DRIVERS - WHY MSC-S BC .............................9
OBJECTIVES: ........................................................................................9
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................11
COURSE OVERVIEW ....................................................................................11
HOW TO GET HIGHER CAPACITY? .............................................................12
MSC-S VS MSC-S BC ....................................................................................12
MSC-S BC MAIN COMPONENTES ...............................................................14
EXTERNAL INTERFACES .............................................................................17
MSS SITE BEFORE AND AFTER MIGRATION TO MSC-S BC...........18
SITE EXAMPLE ..............................................................................................18
NETWORK EXAMPLES .................................................................................21
REASONS FOR INTRODUCING MSC-S BC.......................................24
INTEGRATED SITE ........................................................................................24
LESS HARDWARE.........................................................................................25
SMALLER FOOTPRINT..................................................................................25
LOWER POWER CONSUMPTION ................................................................26
MSC IN POOL CONCEPT..............................................................................27
RE-USE OF HARDWARE (HW) .....................................................................28
HIGH AVAILABILITY.......................................................................................29
PREPARED FOR TOMORROW.....................................................................30
ADDED VALUE INTRODUCED IN MSC-S BC.....................................32
SCALABLE......................................................................................................32
HIGH CAPACITY ............................................................................................32
RELIABLE.......................................................................................................33
PREPARED FOR MOBILE MULTIMEDIA......................................................33
CAPEX & OPEX..............................................................................................34
FUTURE PROOF............................................................................................34
CONCLUSION – WHY MSC-S BC?.....................................................35
2 MSC-S BC CHARACTERISTICS AND NEW CONCEPTS .........37
MSC Server R14 Blade Cluster Overview
- 4 - . Ericsson 2009 LZT 123 9504 R1A
OBJECTIVES: ......................................................................................37
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................39
MSC-S BC LOGICAL PARTS.........................................................................39
APZ AND APG................................................................................................40
NEW CONCEPTS ................................................................................42
APZ HIERARCHY CONCEPT ........................................................................42
IS & CP REPLACES RP IN MSC-S BC ..........................................................42
SINGLE-SIDED CP CONCEPT ......................................................................43
CP CLUSTER CONCEPT...............................................................................44
PRIMARY & BUDDY CONCEPT ....................................................................45
SUBSCRIBER DATA DISTRIBUTION MECHANISM.....................................46
BLADE REDUNDANCY..................................................................................47
TRAFFIC HANDLING IN MSC-S BC....................................................48
MSC-S BC IS SEEN AS MULTIPLE NODES FROM M-MGW .......................48
BICC & ISUP CAN ONLY SEE THE TSC:S ...................................................49
DUAL FUNCTIONALITY OF THE SPX...........................................................49
SPX IS A SIGNALING TRANSFER POINT ....................................................50
EXAMPLE: NORMAL CALL FLOW ................................................................51
RECOVERY BEHAVIOR ......................................................................56
SOFTWARE FAILURE RECOVERY CATEGORIES......................................56
AUTOMATIC STARTUP AFTER POWER FAILURE......................................57
AUTOMATIC HARDWARE RECOVERY........................................................57
MANUAL HARDWARE RECOVERY..............................................................57
THERE IS AN ALARM FOR EVERYTHING ...................................................58
PERFORMANCE AND FOOTPRINT OF THE MSC-S BC ...................59
THREE GENERATIONS OF APZ...................................................................59
CENTRAL PROCESSOR (CP) .......................................................................60
AP/IO...............................................................................................................61
MSC-S – MILLIONS OF SUBSCRIBERS.......................................................64
NODE AVAILABILITY AND ROBUSTNESS MECHANISMS ................65
WHAT IS ROBUSTNESS? .............................................................................65
SWITCHING EXECUTIVE CP SIDE IN AN SPX ............................................66
SWITCHING ACTIVE AP SIDE IN AN APG ...................................................67
Table of Contents
LZT 123 9504 R1A . Ericsson 2009 - 5 -
CALL DURING A CLUSTER CONFIGURATION CHANGE ...........................69
CCS BASIC CONCEPTS................................................................................73
MGCF FOR INTERWORKING WITH IMS ......................................................82
MGCF FOR INTERWORKING WITH SIP-I BASED .......................................83
HIGHER AND HIGHER LOAD........................................................................85
WHAT IS AVAILABILITY?...............................................................................86
CONCLUSION – CHARACTERISTICS AND NEW CONCEPTS .........88
3 HARDWARE COMPONENTS.....................................................89
OBJECTIVES: ......................................................................................89
MSC-S BC CONFIGURATIONS...........................................................91
MINIMUM CONFIGURATION.........................................................................91
MAXIMUM CONFIGURATION........................................................................92
HW CHANGES IN MSS R6.0...............................................................93
HARDWARE COMPONENTS, FROM CABINET TO BLADE...............94
MSC-S BC HW OVERVIEW ...........................................................................94
SPX & APG HW OVERVIEW..........................................................................95
IS, TSC & MSC HW OVERVIEW....................................................................96
OPTIONAL HW OVERVIEW...........................................................................98
FUNCTION OF THE HARDWARE COMPONENTS.............................99
EGEM – ENHANCED GEM ..........................................................................100
APZ 214 01 OVERVIEW...............................................................................101
HARDWARE USED IN SPX, APG43 AND APZ 21401 ................................102
IS INFRASTRUCTURE BLADES..................................................................103
APZ 212 60 OVERVIEW...............................................................................108
DUAL CP OVERVIEW ..................................................................................109
APG 43 OVERVIEW .....................................................................................111
CONCLUSION – HARDWARE COMPONENTS ..........................................115
4 INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PROTOCOLS IN MSC-S BC .....117
OBJECTIVES .....................................................................................117
OVERVIEW OF PROTOCOLS USED IN MSC-S BC.........................119
APT PROTOCOLS TOWARDS THE BLADES.............................................119
INTERNAL PROTOCOLS BETWEEN BLADES...........................................119
MSC Server R14 Blade Cluster Overview
- 6 - . Ericsson 2009 LZT 123 9504 R1A
OSI MODEL APPLIED ON MSC-S BC...............................................122
OSI AND TCP/IP MODEL .............................................................................122
LAYER 1 – PHYSICAL LAYER.....................................................................123
LAYER 2 – DATA LINK LAYER....................................................................124
LAYER 3 – NETWORK LAYER ....................................................................125
LAYER 3 TO 7 – NETWORK TO APPLICATION LAYER ............................126
GENERAL PRINCIPLES FOR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
BETWEEN MSC-S BLADES..............................................................131
EXAMPLE – ORIGINATING MOBILE CALL.................................................131
SPX CONVERTS M3UA TO SUA.................................................................132
INTERNAL ROUTING USING INTRO ..........................................................133
CONCLUSION – PROTOCOLS .........................................................134
5 SOFTWARE COMPONENTS....................................................135
OBJECTIVES .....................................................................................135
MAIN SOFTWARE COMPONENTS IN MSC, TSC, APZ 212 60
AND APZ 214 01 ................................................................................137
MSC-S BC CP SW AND MIDDLEWARE OVERVIEW .................................137
APG 43 SW OVERVIEW ..............................................................................139
AP APZ SW IN MSC-S BC ...........................................................................139
ADAPTED COMPONENTS IN MSC-S BC ...................................................140
PURPOSE OF THE SOFTWARE COMPONENTS ............................141
SOFTWARE STATES...................................................................................141
CLUSTER HANDLER ...................................................................................141
APT BLADE QUORUM.................................................................................144
APT BLADE STATES ...................................................................................145
SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION OF MSC-S BC FUNCTIONALITY .147
SOFTWARE REFERENCES ........................................................................147
BLADE SOFTWARE ID ................................................................................147
EXAMPLE: SPX LEARNS THE BLADE ID ...................................................149
EXAMPLE: BUDDY TAKES OVER WHEN ISOLATING ..............................151
EXAMPLE: NEW DISTRIBUTION IF BLADE FAILS ....................................152
CONCLUSION – SOFTWARE ...........................................................153
Table of Contents
LZT 123 9504 R1A . Ericsson 2009 - 7 -
6 INTRODUCTION TO OPERATION AND CONFIGURATION
OF THE MSC-S BCTHE MSC-S BC .........................................155
OBJECTIVES .....................................................................................155
INTRODUCTION................................................................................157
THE ROLE OF SIS AND APG IN MSC-S BC .....................................158
SITE INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORT (SIS).................................................158
APG 43..........................................................................................................159
PRIVATE SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE MANAGEMENT........................160
USER INTERFACES..........................................................................161
IS MANAGEMENT GUI (ISM GUI) ...............................................................161
SPX COMMAND LINE INTERFACE.............................................................163
OPERATOR SUPPORT FUNCTIONS................................................164
MANUAL CHANGE OF CP BLADE STATE .................................................164
TRAFFIC STATE HANDLING PER BLADE..................................................164
TRAFFIC SUPERVISION PER BLADE ........................................................165
NEW PROCEDURES.........................................................................166
ADDING A NEW BLADE TO THE MSC-S BC..............................................167
MSC-S BC INITIAL START-UP PROCEDURE ............................................169
NEW COMMANDS.............................................................................171
APG43...........................................................................................................171
APT AND APZ...............................................................................................174
HOW TO FIND MORE INFORMATION..............................................181
CONCLUSION – OPERATION AND CONFIGURATION....................182
7 GLOSSARY...............................................................................183