Extension SDK for BEA WebLogic Network Gatekeeper

Introduction and Roadmap

The following sections describe the audience for and organization of this document:

Document Scope and Audience

The purpose of the document is to information on how to use the Extension SDK for BEA WebLogic Network Gatekeeper to create extensions to Network Gatekeeper.

The first part describes the different software modules from various perspectives:

Actors
How to use the utilities provided by the SLEE
General sequence diagrams
Frameworks for the different layers
High availability aspects
Specifics regarding call control plug-ins
Specifics regarding messaging plug-ins

The second part provides information on the templates and build environment for creating extensions that is provided by the Extension SDK.

The following topics are covered:

How to create a plug-in
How to create an ESPA Service Capability module
How to create a SESPA Service Capability module
How to create a WESPA Service Capability module
How to create a test application using the new interfaces
Information on how to use the SLEE utility services

Intended audience is system integrator and field engineers with an interest in how to extend the functionality of the WebLogic Network Gatekeeper.

Prerequisites

In order to use the Extension SDK, Java and CORBA knowledge is essential.

It is also a prerequisite to know the architecture and to have hands on experience working with the WebLogic Network Gatekeeper.

Guide to this Document

The document contains the following chapters:

Introduction and Roadmap, informs you about the structure and contents of this document, and other WebLogic Network Gatekeeper related documentation.
Actors,outlines the different software layers and the actors involved.
Interacting with the SLEE and the SLEE Utility Services, contains information about how to use the utilities provided by the SLEE.
General sequence diagrams, contains generic sequence diagrams that outlines how the different layers interact with each other.
Frameworks, explains the frameworks used in the different layers
High availability, describes high availability aspects.
Plug-ins that executes as a SLEE service and a web application, describes how to interact between a SLEE Service and a Web Service executing in Tomcat via the SLEE Common Loader. The focus is on network plug-ins.
Call Control, contains specifics regarding call control plug-ins.
Call user interaction, contains specifics regarding call user interaction plug-ins.
SMS and MMS messaging, contains specifics regarding messaging plug-ins.
Content based charging, contains specifics regarding content based charging plug-ins.
Subscriber profile, contains specifics regarding messaging plug-ins.
User Location, contains specifics regarding messaging plug-ins.
Policy rules and Policy Utilities, explains how request data is used in Policy rules, and how the rules can be expanded using Policy Utility classes.
Using the Extension SDK templates, contains information about the Extension SDK, the different software modules, the file structure and more.
Creating an example network plug-in, explains how to create a plug-in based on the templates and build environment provided in the Extension SDK.
Creating an example ESPA Service Capability module, explains how to create a service capability module based on the templates and build environment provided in the Extension SDK.
Creating an example SESPA module, explains how to create a SESPA module based on the templates and build environment provided in the Extension SDK.
Creating an example WESPA module, explains how to create a web service interface based on the templates and build environment provided in the Extension SDK.
Creating an example application, explains how to create an application that uses the Web Services exposed by the WESPA module provided in the Extension SDK.
Creating an example network simulator, explains how to create a simulator application that is tied to the network protocol plug-in.

Terminology

The following terms and acronyms are used in this document:

API—Application Programming Interface
Application—A telecom enabled computer application accessed either from a telephony terminal or a computer.
Service Provider—An organization offering services provided by one or more applications to end users.
AS—Application Server
ATE—Application Test Environment
CBC—Content Based Charging
CORBA—Common Object Request Broker Architecture
End User—Person that uses an application. An end user can be identical to a subscriber, for instance in a prepaid service. The end user can also be a non-subscriber, for instance in an automated mail-ordering application where the subscriber is the mail-order company and the end user is a customer to this company.
Enterprise Operator —See Service Provider.
ESPA—Extended and value added telecom web services APIs and service capabilities.
HTML—Hypertext Markup Language
IIOP—Internet Inter-ORB Protocol
IN—Intelligent Network
INAP—Intelligent Network Application Part
IOR—Interoperable Object Reference
IP—Internet Protocol
JDBC—Java Database Connectivity, the Java API for database access.
MAP—Mobile Application Part
Mated Pair—Two physically distributed installations of WebLogic Network Gatekeeper nodes sharing a subset of data allowing for high availability between the nodes.
MPP—Mobile Positioning Protocol
NS—Network Simulator
Operator—The Network Gatekeeper owner
ORB—Object Request Broker
OSA—Open Service Access
PAP—Push Access Protocol
Plug-in—A network plug-in the Network Gatekeeper to a network based service node or OSA/Parlay SCS through a specific protocol.
SCF—Service Capability Function or Service Control Function
SC—Service Capability
Service—A network provided service capability.
Service Capability—See Service
SIP—Session Initiation Protocol
SLEE—Service Logic Execution Environment
SLEE Service—A software module that is designed to execute in the SLEE.
SMPP—Short Message Peer-to-Peer Protocol
SMS—Short Message Service
SMSC—Short Message Service Centre
SNMP—Simple Network Management Protocol
SOAP—Simple Object Access Protocol
SPA—Service Provider APIs
SS7—Signalling System 7
Subscriber—A person or organization that subscribes for an application. The subscriber is charged for the service usage. See End User.
SQL—Structured Query Language
TCP—Transmission Control Protocol
User—An application accessing services through one or more APIs and has a user name and a password or a person working with OAM through the Network Gatekeeper management tool that has an administrative user name and password.
USSD—Unstructured Supplementary Service Data
VAS—Value Added Service
VLAN—Virtual Local Area Network
VPN—Virtual Private Network
XML—Extended Markup Language

Introduction and Roadmap

Document Scope and Audience

Prerequisites

Guide to this Document

Terminology

Related Documentation

WebLogic Network Gatekeeper documentation