Service Provider and Application Administration

The following sections describe tools for managing service providers and applications:

Overview

All service providers and their applications have to be registered in the WebLogic Network Gatekeeper. The service provider and application registration is performed through the WebLogic Network Gatekeeper management tool or using management systems integrated with the WebLogic Network Gatekeeper through Network Gatekeeper Partner Management Tools.

The applications are made aware of the WebLogic Network Gatekeeper's location using addressing information in the Web Services WSDL files.

For information related to the security in the communication between the WebLogic Network Gatekeeper and the applications, see Security.

Administration model

The main concepts in the administration of service providers and applications are accounts, account groups and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

All service providers need to have a registered account in the WebLogic Network Gatekeeper. To support tiering or grouping of service providers, the accounts are connected to account groups and each group is associated with an SLA.

When a service provider account has been created, application accounts can be registered on that service provider account. As for the service provider accounts, the application accounts are connected to account groups and these groups are associated with SLAs.

In order to manage applications executing in locations outside the service provider's domain, for example office applications executing on the end users' PCs at customer organisations, it is possible to create application instance groups. The application instance group identifies the customer organisation. An application instance group SLA is used to regulate how many application instances can be active at the same time.

Applications executing within the service provider's domain use a one-to-one relation between the application account, the application instance group, and the number of allowed instances in the application instance group.

The administration model is shown in Figure 5-1, Service provider and application administration model, on page 5-3.

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The SLAs on service provider and application level regulates, for example, available service capabilities, maximum allowed bandwidth and allowed number of concurrent sessions. It also specifies access to charging capabilities and revenue sharing schemas.

The network protection and and access control functionality in WebLogic Network Gatekeeper, introduces two traffic contract types and a set of rules to enforce these new contracts. The first traffic contract type regulates the relation between a service provider group and the network nodes, that is the service provider traffic SLA, and the second regulates the relation between WeLogic Networ Gatekeeper and the network nodes, that is the total traffic SLA.

appl_prov_and_adm.html

In the example above, service providers in service provider group 1 are allowed to access all network nodes, since their service provider traffic SLA (valid for all service providers within the group) contains node contracts for all nodes.

Service providers in service provider group 2 are only allowed to access network node 1 and 3, because their service provider traffic SLA only contains node contracts for node 1 and 3.

Partner Management Tools

WebLogic Network Gatekeeper Partner Management Tools support automation of traditionally work intensive task related to service provider and application administration. The tools are used for shifting most of the registration work to the service provider. The operator's role changes from entering registration data to approving registration data. Using WebLogic Network Gatekeeper Partner Management Tools facilitate the administration of large numbers of service provider and application accounts and prevents an increasing administration overhead. It also provides the service providers with a defined and structured channel to communicate desired account changes and to retrieve usage statistics for the accounts.

The Partner Management Tools support the service provider and application administration model described above.

Service provider tasks

Service providers can perform the following tasks through Partner Management Tools:

Register as a service provider
Log in
Add/view/update/delete application accounts
Activate/deactivate application accounts
View/update/delete the service provider account

Operator tasks

The operator can perform the following tasks through Partner Management Tools:

Add/view/update/delete service provider groups
Add/view/update/delete application groups
Add/view/update/delete application instance groups
Add/view/update/delete service provider accounts
Approve/reject service provider account applications
Activate/deactivate service provider accounts
Add/view/update/delete application accounts
Approve/reject application account applications
Activate/deactivate application accounts
Add/view/update/delete white lists and white list entries on a service provider level
Add/view/update/delete white lists and white list entries on a global level

Statistics

For descriptions on available statistic types, see Statistics and Performance Data on page 1.

Operator intranet, extranet and CRM/PRM system interfaces

The Partner Management Tools provide modular Web Services and CORBA based interfaces. This gives the operator the freedom to incorporate the Partner Management Tools into CRM/PRM systems, intranets and extranets. The following interfaces exists:

Service provider interfaces:

Service provider registration callback - used for recieving registration results
Service provider log in
Service provider - used for the administration of the service provider's accounts

Operator interfaces:

Operator log in
Operator - used for the administration of all accounts

Common interfaces:

Alarm listener - receives alarms from the WebLogic Network Gatekeeper
Notification listener - receives notifications from the WebLogic Network Gatekeeper
Event listener - receives events from the WebLogic Network Gatekeeper
Listener manager - administrates the listeners

For example, a service provider can register on the operator's web site. When the operator has approved the account, the service provider can log in to the operator's extranet and register applications and view account data. The operator handles all verification and approval of the registered applications over the intranet.

Back end system interfaces

The Partner Management Tools can be integrated with back end systems and network nodes as, for example SMSCs, MMSCs and pre-paid systems to create and update accounts. The integration is made through a plug-in interface similar to the plug-in interface used for the traffic towards the network nodes..

Application connection

Applications using Web Services need access to the Extended API or Parlay X WSDL files. The connection is set up through a SOAP/HTTP connection with WebLogic Network Gatekeeper, see Figure 4-1, WebLogic Network Gatekeeper application interfaces, on page 4-3.

Other administration areas

For an application using the charging (content based) or messaging services, messaging or charging accounts have to be created.

If the application use the user interaction service, announcements have to be recorded and installed in the network. For more information on these areas, see User's Guide - WebLogic Network Gatekeeper.