9 Integrating with Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management

Oracle Communications Marketing and Advertising can be set up to deliver charging data to Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management, or any billing system that supports Diameter Rf.

Overview

The CDRtoDiameter module in Marketing and Advertising converts Charging Data Records (CDRs) to Diameter Rf format. To use this feature, you must do the following steps:

1. Deploy the CDRtoDiameter Service

2. Configure the CDRtoDiameter Service

Deploy the CDRtoDiameter Service

The CDRtoDiameter module is not deployed by default. If you wish to use this functionality, you must first deploy the appropriate.ear file. For information on how to deploy the service, see Oracle WebLogic Server Deploying Applications to WebLogic Server at:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E12840_01/wls/docs103/deployment/

The service is packaged in two ears, depending on the type of installation you have. The cdr_to_diameter-single.ear file is for use in single server domains and cdr_to_diameter.ear is for clustered installations. Both files are found in <OCSG_Home>/applications.The service is a cluster singleton, so it will execute only on one server at any given time, and is transferred to another server in case of server failure. The management part is distributed to all servers in the cluster, so it can be managed from any server in the cluster.

Note:

Some Diameter requests may be dropped during patching, redeployment, or upgrade of the CDRtoDiameter module. Check the database for the time period during which the transition took place.

Configure the CDRtoDiameter Service

When the module has been deployed, it will appear in the Container Services section of the Administration console. From the Domain Structure panel, open the OCSG node -><ServerName>->Container Services. To configure the service, follow the instructions in "CDRs and Diameter" in the Oracle Communications Services Gatekeeper System Administrator's Guide at:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E14148_01/wlcp/ocsg41_otn/admin/cdrtodiameter.html

AVPs in Diameter Rf

The Diameter Rf message that is sent from Marketing and Advertising is made up of a somewhat different set of AVPs than the Diameter Rf messages that are sent from Oracle Communications Services Gatekeeper. Table 9-1 describes what AVPs are sent.

Table 9-1 AVP s for Oracle Communications Marketing and Advertising

AVP	AVP Code	Type	Specification	Description
Session_ID	263	UTF8String	RFC 3588	Used to identify a specific session
Origin-Host	264	DiameterIdentity	RFC 3588	Identifies the endpoint that originated this message. Is equal to the delivery-mechanism host
Origin_Realm	296	DiameterIdentity	RFC 3588	Identifies the Realm of the originator of the delivery-mechanism
Destination-Host	293	DiameterIdentity	RFC 3588	Identifies the destination host
Destination-Realm	283	DiameterIdentity	RFC 3588	Identifies the Realm of the destination host
Accounting-Record-Type	480	Enumerated	RFC 3588	The type of accounting record being sent
Accounting-Record_Number	485	Unsigned32	RFC 3588	Identifies this record within this session
Acct-Application-ID	259	Unsigned32	RFC 3588	Advertises support of the Accounting portion of an application. The field corresponds to the application ID of the Diameter Accounting Application and is defined with the value 3
User-Name	1	UTF8String	RFC 3588	The Advertiser External ID, assigned when the organization was created
Event-Timestamp	55	Time	RFC 3588	Time the event happened, in seconds since January 1, 1900 00:00 UTC
Service-Indication	704	OctetString	3GPP 29.329	For this product, the value is always "ADVERT_SERVICE"
Event-Type	823	Grouped	3GPP 32.299	Contains information about the type of event for which the accounting-request is generated
Event-Type.Event	825	UTF8String	3GPP 32.299	Specifies the Ad-event type. Always AD_SERVED
Participants-Involved	887	UTF8String	3GPP 32.299	Lists the external ID of the related ASO, ASP and NP. The IDs are delimited by# mark
CC-Money	413	Grouped	RFC4006	Specifies the monetary amount in the given currency, used for storing the price of the ad message
CC-Money.Unit-Value	445	Grouped	RFC4006	Specifies the units as decimal value
Unit-Value.Value-Digits	447	Integer64	RFC4006	Contains the significant digits of the number.
Unit-Value.Exponent	429	Integer32	RFC4006	Contains the exponent value to be applied for the Value-Digit AVP within the Unit-Value AVP
CC-Money.Currency-Code	425	Unsigned32	RFC4006	Specifies the currency, given as the numeric values defined in the ISO 4217 standard.

Note:

In the case of overlay installations, a single CDR for an Advertising campaign can create two Diameter Rf messages, one using the Services Gatekeeper message structure and one using the Marketing and Advertising structure. This allows BRM to track both the application (the Ad Space Owner) that initially sent the message and the Advertiser who created the campaign that uses the message as a bearer of its own Ad Content, facilitating charging and revenue sharing arrangements.

Oracle Communications Network Mediation

BRM does not understand Diameter Rf natively. In order to deliver the Marketing and Advertising Diameter Rf message to BRM, an intermediary, Oracle Communications Network Mediation (NM) must be introduced to translate the message into BRM's proprietary Solution42 format. The CDRtoDiameter service delivers the Diameter Rf message to the Network Mediation Collection Cartridge, which functions as the input site. The message is processed internally using an Enhancement Cartridge, and finally is delivered to a Distribution Cartridge that has been created to transform the message into Solution42. The transformed message is delivered to BRM. The flow is illustrated in the graphic below.

Description of the illustration rf.gif