6 Offloading Subscriber Usage

This chapter describes the request offload functionality in Oracle Communications Online Mediation Controller.

About Offloading Subscriber Usage

Online Mediation Controller responds to offloaded subscriber authorization and charging requests without redirecting sessions to Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM). Online Mediation Controller assumes the role of the external online charging system (OCS) and responds with a default authorization for users deemed safe for offloading. Online Mediation Controller generates CDRs for the offloaded sessions for replay at a later time back to BRM to account for the offloaded sessions.

Service Providers configure the types of users or traffic types eligible for offloading. Offloading charging requests ensures that the OCS is not overwhelmed during peak hours. Online Mediation Controller delays sending offloaded CDRs to the OCS for rating until configurable off-peak hours.

Online Mediation Controller can compress CDRs from the same subscriber into a single record before playback. Doing so further increases the efficiency of rating offloaded subscriber usage.

Offline Mode operates independently from degraded mode. Each mode is configured to use its own instance of a local OCS.

About Configuring Offloading and CDR Replay

To enable offloading, you need to configure Online Mediation Controller settings including Signaling Server Unit (SSU) and Interworking Modules (IMs) components.

Offloading relies on the Subscriber Store, the Online Mediation Controller repository of end user information, for certain capabilities. For example, the Subscriber Store enables Online Mediation Controller to correlate multiple sessions initiated on different devices to a single end user. This allows Online Mediation Controller to replay all CDRs associated with the end user in order, even for sessions that were originated on different devices. Subscriber Store data, such as subscribed services, credit limits, and usage counters can also be used to determine offload eligibility.

Offloading supports orchestrated mediation deployments. Incoming Diameter Ro requests are checked by the Orchestration Engine (OE) to determine if they are offload eligible. The OE sends qualifying requests to the offloading local OCS. Orchestrated mediation of offloaded requests can include additional applications if required by your business logic.

Configuring Online Mediation Controller for Offloading

Offloading requires orchestrated mediation, in which charging-related traffic is handled by the OE and applicable IMs. The OE determines if a request is offload eligible by inspecting the request header or querying the Subscriber Store for a subscriber's resource balance.

Configuring orchestrated mediation for offloading involves the following general steps:

• Adding offloading settings to the IM that connects to the BRM instance

• Creating an IM-OCF instance for the offloading local OCS

• Adding a branching condition in the orchestration logic for the IMs for routing qualifying requests to the offloading local OCS.

See "Setting Up Orchestrated Charging Mediation", for more information on orchestrated mediation. For additional information on creating and configuring IMs, see Oracle Communications Service Broker Modules Configuration Guide.

The following procedure provides an overview of the orchestrated mediation configuration for offloading.

1. Configure CDR persistence. See "Configuring CDR Persistence" for more information.

2. Configure SSU settings for the local OCS (as described in "Configuring the Signaling Tier for Offloading") and for the external OCS. For more information on SSU configuration, see Oracle Communications Service Broker Signaling Server Units Configuration Guide.

3. Add offload settings to the IM instance that mediates requests to the external OCS. See "Configuring IM Offloading Settings", for more information.

4. Create an offloading local OCS. See "Configuring Local OCS Properties", for more information.

5. Create an IM-OCF instance for the local OCS used with offloading. See "Creating and Configuring IM-OCF for the Offloading Local OCS", for more information.

6. Add a branching condition to the orchestration logic for the IMs that routes messages to one or the other IM based on the offload eligibility of the session. The status is indicated in offload mode header of the message.

   If the value of this header is true, the iFC should route the message to the IM of the local OCS. If false, it should route the message to the IM of the external OCS. See Oracle Communications Service Broker Orchestration User's Guide, for more information on configuring orchestration.

7. Configure the offloaded CDR replay behavior. See "Configuring Offloaded CDR Replay Behavior", for more information. See "Replaying Charging Data Records Manually", if you want to perform manual CDR replay.

8. Configure the offloaded CDR compression if needed. See "Configuring Offloaded CDR Compression", for more information.

9. Configure service unit counters. See "Configuring Service Unit Counters" for more information.

Configuring CDR Persistence

You can use either Oracle Berkeley DB or Oracle 11g Database for offloaded CDR storage. The default persistence mechanism is Oracle Berkeley DB storage. To enable Berkeley DB storage, you only need to configure the file storage location. To use Oracle Database 11g, you need to change the persistence package installed in the domain and then configure the database connection settings.

CDRs generated by both degraded mode and offloading reside in the same database. See "Using Degraded Mode", for more information on the degraded mode.

The following steps provide an overview of how to configure CDR persistence. For more information on data storage, see the information on configuring data storage in the Oracle Communications Service Broker Installation Guide.

Using Oracle Database 11g Persistence

To use Oracle 11g Database for offloaded CDR storage, follow these steps:

1. Prepare the database for CDR storage by running this SQL script: degraded_mode_cdr_store.sql.

   The script is located in the following directory:

   Oracle_home/ocsb61/admin_server/scripts/database

2. Open the Administration Console.

3. Select Domain Management, then Packages.

4. Remove the existing persistence package from the domain by selecting this package and clicking Uninstall:

   oracle.ocsb.app.rcc.service.degraded_mode.persistence.bdb

5. Install the database package in the domain selecting this file and clicking Install:

   oracle.ocsb.app.rcc.service.degraded_mode.persistence.database.jar

6. Ensure that the start level for the package matches that of this package:

   oracle.ocsb.app.rcc.service.degraded_mode.core

7. Configure the database connection for each Managed Server, as described in the Oracle Communications Service Broker Installation Guide.

For more information on how to perform these steps, see the Oracle Communications Service Broker Installation Guide.

Using Oracle Berkeley DB File-Based Persistence

The default persistence package used for offloaded CDR storage is the Oracle Berkeley DB file-based persistence package. Therefore, to implement Oracle Berkeley DB for CDR storage, you only need to configure the storage location settings for the managed servers in your domain.

See Oracle Communications Service Broker Installation Guide for information on configuring Berkeley DB settings.

Configuring the Signaling Tier for Offloading

To use offloading, you need to configure a route to the offloading local online charging server (OCS). The local OCS is the internal Online Mediation Controller component that responds to requests from offloaded subscribers. When offloading is active, the Signaling Server Unit (SSU) directs requests to the local OCS rather than the external OCS.

To configure routing to the offloading local OCS:

1. In the navigation tree, expand OCSB.

2. Expand Signaling Tier.

3. Click SSU Diameter.

4. In the SSU Diameter tab, click the Outbound Destinations subtab.

5. Click New.

6. In the dialog box, enter values for the following fields:

   • Name: A name for the local OCS definition in the configuration.

   • Alias: An alias for the local OCS destination, such as localocs.

   • Destination Host: The host name of the system on which the Diameter SSU runs. This host contains the local OCS. For example, ro.server.example.com.

   • Destination Realm: The destination realm for the local OCS. This should be set as the same destination realm used for the Diameter SSU in your deployment. For example, us.example.com.

     Note:

     The destination host and realm you specify in this tab must match the values defined in the Local OCF node located in the Degraded Mode configuration folder for the offloading local OCS. See "Configuring Local OCS Properties", for more information.

   • Weight: An integer defining the relative amount of traffic sent to the destination host. This value is compared to weights specified in other destination hosts when more than one destination host is configured.

7. Click Apply.

The new local OCS configuration appears in the outbound destinations list.

Now configure the peer and route configuration in SSU Diameter, as follows:

1. In the navigation tree, expand OCSB.

2. Expand Signaling Tier.

3. Click SSU Diameter.

4. Click the DIAMETER tab.

5. With the default node selected, configure the following settings of the General tab:

   • Realm: The destination realm for the local OCS. This should be the same value as you configured for the destination realm for the local OCS, such as us.example.com.

   • Host: The host name of the system on which the local OCS runs. This should be the same value as you configured for the Destination Host for the local OCS, such as ro.server.example.com.

     Note:

     The destination host and realm you specify in this tab must match the values defined in the Local OCF node located in the Degraded Mode configuration folder. See "Configuring Local OCS Properties", for more information.

   Use the default node for the local OCS configuration.

   Configure other general settings for the route as needed. For more information, see the chapter on SSU Diameter in Oracle Communications Service Broker Signaling Server Units Configuration Guide.

6. Click the Routes tab.

7. Click Add to create a route.

8. Enter a Name for the route.

9. Click Apply.

10. Specify the following settings of the new route:

    • Realm: The destination realm for the local OCS. This should be the same value as you configured for the destination realm for the local OCS, such as us.example.com.

    • Application ID: The application ID of the Diameter application. Enter 4, which represents Diameter Ro.

    • Action: The routing action to perform for the local OCS. Set to relay.

11. Click New under the KeyID Host table.

12. In the Host field, specify the host name of the system on which the local OCS runs. This should be the same value as you configured for the destination host for the local OCS, such as ro.server.example.com.

13. Click Apply.

14. Click the Peers tab.

15. Select the check box next to your newly created peer. The peer represents the local OCS.

16. Click Update.

17. Specify the peer settings as follows:

    • Host: The host name of the system on which SSU Diameter runs. This address is configured in the General settings located at the following location: OCSB, then Signaling Tier, then SSU Diameter, then the DIAMETER tab, then the Diameter Configuration subtab. See the chapter on configuring SSU Diameter in the Oracle Communications Service Broker Signaling Server Units Configuration Guide, for more information

    • Address: The IP address SSU Diameter is configured to listen on. This address is configured in the General settings located at the following location: OCSB, then Signaling Tier, then SSU Diameter, then the DIAMETER tab, then the Diameter Configuration subtab. See the chapter on configuring SSU Diameter in the Oracle Communications Service Broker Signaling Server Units Configuration Guide, for more information.

    • Port: The port number on which the SSU Diameter listens for Diameter traffic. The default value is 3588.

      Note:

      The host and realm you specify in this screen must match the values defined in the Local OCF node located in the Degraded Mode configuration folder. See "Configuring Local OCS Properties", for more information.

    • Protocol: The network protocol to use for the local OCS. Select either tcp or sctp.

    The Watchdog check box can remain disabled with a FALSE value.

18. Click Apply.

The signaling tier is now configured to route Diameter traffic to the local OCS.

Configuring IM Offloading Settings

Specify the following settings for each IM you want to enable for offloading.

To access the offloading settings in the IM:

1. In the Processing Tier tree, expand Interworking Modules.

2. Click the IM of the BRM instance for which you want to enable offloading.

3. Click the Configuration tab.

4. Click the Degraded Mode tab.

5. Configure the degraded mode settings shown in "Common IM Offloading Settings" as appropriate for the external OCS. For information on the IM configuration, see Oracle Communications Service Broker Modules Configuration Guide.

Configuring Local OCS Properties

The local OCS settings define properties for the Online Mediation Controller component that responds to offloaded subscriber requests. Create a new local OCS, separate from the degraded mode local OCS, to which the OE routes eligible offloaded requests to.

Creating the Offloading Local OCS

Additional local online charging systems are created and managed in the Local OCF Configuration tab.

Create the Offline Mode local OCS as follows:

1. In the navigation tree, expand OCSB.

2. Expand the Processing Tier.

3. Expand Applications.

4. Expand Degraded Mode.

5. Click Local OCF.

6. In the Local OCF Configuration tab, Click New.

7. Configure the parameters as follow:

   • Name: The name of the local OCS.

   • Mode: The operating mode of the OCS. For a local OCS used with Offline Mode, select CDR.

   • unitCalculatorObjectName: The implementation class that performs service unit calculations. The default is oracle.ocsb.app.localocf.ruleengine.UnitCalculatorBasicImpl.

8. Click Apply.

9. Commit the changes to the domain.

Common IM Offloading Settings

The IMs that support offloading have common configuration settings. This section provides an overview of the common settings. For more information about a particular type of IM, see Oracle Communications Service Broker Modules Configuration Guide.

The common offloading IM settings are:

• On OCF Failure: Specifies the module behavior when there is an OCF Failure. This setting is overwritten by the OCF AVP settings for Credit Control Failure Handling and Realtime Required.

  • ALWAYS_REFUSE: Use when offloading is disabled. No CDRs will be written to storage.

  • USE_LOCAL_REFUSE: Use when offloading is configured. CDRs will be written to the Subscriber Store for replay at a later time. If the Subscriber Store is unavailable, service is refused.

  • USE_LOCAL_GRANT: Use when offloading is configured. CDRs will be written to the Subscriber Store for replay at a later time. If the Subscriber Store is unavailable, permit service.

• CDR Mode: The mode in which Online Mediation Controller writes CDRs to local storage, from these options:

  • Normal: Online Mediation Controller writes CDRs only after it assumes the functions of the external OCS.

  • History: After it assumes the functions of the external OCS, Online Mediation Controller writes CDRs that reflect the history of each active session, including for requests received before assuming the active OCS role.

  • Always: Online Mediation Controller writes CDRs always.

• CDR Writer Impl: The internal class that performs CDR writing. This can be one of the following values:

  • oracle.ocsb.app.rcc.ocfproxy.cdrwriter.CDRWriterImpl: Writes CDRs to the Offline Mode service. This is the standard implementation to use for Offline Mode processing.

  • com.convergin.common.diameter.ocfproxy.CDRWriterLogImpl: Writes information to the log only. This is useful for testing.

• CDR Writer Service The CDR writer service that Online Mediation Controller uses, if not the default. This field should remain blank, as it is by default.

• Degraded Mode Timer: The period, in milliseconds, that Online Mediation Controller waits for a response from the online charging server. If the online charging server does not respond within the specified period, the user session is switched to degraded mode.

• Local-OCF Alias: Specifies the alias of the offloading local OCS. This alias is mapped to the destination host and destination realm of the local online charging server as defined in the configuration of Diameter SSU outbound routing rules. See the discussion of Diameter SSU in Oracle Communications Service Broker Signaling Server Units Configuration Guide for more information.

• Local-OCF External Protocol: Specifies the protocol that Online Mediation Controller uses to communicate with the local online charging server. Default value: Ro

• Degraded Mode Error Codes: The error response code from the external OCS that indicates a failure for which degraded mode should be activated. Specify as comma-delimited integers.

  For example:

  5012,5023

Creating and Configuring IM-OCF for the Offloading Local OCS

Online Mediation Controller requires an instance of IM-OCF to route offloaded requests to the offloading local OCS.

1. Create an IM-OCF instance for the local OCS. See the chapter on setting up IM-OCF in Oracle Communications Service Broker Modules Configuration Guide for more information.

2. In the Degraded Mode tab of the IM-OCF for the local OCS, specify the following settings:

   • CDR Mode: Set to ALWAYS.

   • Local-OCF Alias: Set to the alias of the local OCF.

   Optionally, configure other degraded mode settings for the IM (as described in "Common IM Offloading Settings").

Configuring Offloaded CDR Replay Behavior

The CDR replay configuration settings determine how Online Mediation Controller replays CDRs generated by offloaded subscribers.

This section describes how to configure properties associated with CDR replay. See "Replaying Charging Data Records Manually" for information about how to perform manual CDR replay.

To configure CDR replay behavior:

1. In the navigation tree, expand OCSB.

2. Expand Processing Tier.

3. Expand Applications.

4. Expand Degraded Mode.

5. Click Replay.

6. In the Control tab, set the Enable Manual Replay field to either of the following values:

   • TRUE: Disables automatic CDR replay. In this case, a Online Mediation Controller administrator must manually initiate the CDR replay process when an OCS resumes availability.

   • FALSE: Enables automatic CDR replay. In this case, Online Mediation Controller triggers CDR replay when it detects that an OCS has resumed availability.

7. Click the Offloaded CDR Replay tab.

8. In the Offloaded CDR Replay pane, configure these settings:

   • Enable manual replay: If true, offloaded CDRs are replayed only on receipt of a manual replay start trigger. If manual replay is selected the below start and stop time settings are disabled.

   • Start Hour: The hour part of the time of the day to start replay of offloaded CDRs. Valid values are from 0 to 23

   • Start Minute: The minute part of the time of the day to stop replay of offloaded CDRs. Valid values are from 0 to 59.

   • Stop Hour: The hour part of the time of the day to stop replay of offloaded CDRs. Valid values are from 0 to 23.

   • Stop Minute: The minute part of the time of the day to stop replay of offloaded CDRs. Valid values are from 0 to 59.

   • Enable CDR Compression: Whether Online Mediation Controller should compress CDRs for the same subscriber before replaying to the external OCS.

   • Enable Compression across sessions: If true, CDRs are compressed across sessions. This setting is enabled only if the Enable CDR Compression value is set to true.

   • Replay Rate: Number of compressed CDRs to replay per second.

   • Delete Offloaded CDRs: If set to TRUE, Online Mediation Controller deletes offloaded CDRs after successful replay.

9. Click Apply to save your changes.

Replaying Charging Data Records Manually

By default, Online Mediation Controller replays CDRs automatically. Alternatively, you can disable automatic CDR replays, and instead invoke CDR replay manually when needed.

Configure the CDR replay behavior by performing the following steps:

1. In the navigation tree, expand OCSB.

2. Expand Processing Tier.

3. Expand Applications.

4. Expand DegradedMode.

5. Select Replay.

6. Select the Offloaded CDR Replay tab.

7. In the Replay parameters tab, set the Enable manual replay to one of the following values:

   • TRUE: Disables automatic CDR replay and enables manual replay.

   • FALSE: Enables automatic CDR replay.

8. Click Apply.

After enabling manual CDR replay, you can trigger CDR replay using the startManualReplay operation in the following runtime MBean:

oracle.ocsb.app.rcc.service.dmode.mbeanDegradedModeMBean

Configuring Offloaded CDR Compression

Online Mediation Controller can compress offloaded CDRs before replay to the external OCS. Compression of CDRs is based on one or more matching attribute value pairs (AVPs) configured in the Administration Console. Online Mediation Controller compresses individual CDRs with matching AVP values into a single cumulative usage or charge CDR when compression is enabled.

To configure an AVP for compression:

1. In the navigation tree, expand OCSB.

2. Expand Processing Tier.

3. Expand Applications.

4. Expand Degraded Mode.

5. Click Replay.

6. Click the Offloaded CDR Replay tab.

7. Click the Avps to Match for CDR compression tab.

8. Click New.

9. In the AVP pop-up window, configure this settings:

   • AVP code: Specify the AVP code Online Mediation Controller uses to identify compressible CDRs.

10. Click Apply to save your changes.

11. Commit your changes.

Configuring Service Unit Counters

Counters in the Online Mediation Controller configuration comprise the network service units that you can adapt to your Diameter application requirements.

By default, the predefined counters are based upon the requested service in the Diameter request. Specifically, they are based on the content of the REQUESTED-SERVICE-UNITS AVP, which can be:

• CC-Time is mapped to code 420

• CC-Total-Octets is mapped to code 421

• CC-Input-Octets is mapped to code 412

• CC-Output-Octets is mapped to code 414

• CC-Service-Specific-Units is mapped to code 417

To modify the default unit counter configuration:

1. In the navigation tree, expand OCSB.

2. Expand Processing Tier.

3. Expand Applications.

4. Expand Degraded Mode.

5. Select LocalOCF.

6. In the General tab, verify the implementation class that performs service unit calculations. The default is oracle.ocsb.app.localocf.ruleengine.UnitCalculatorBasicImpl. You should modify this value only if you have implemented a custom unit calculator.

7. Click the Counters tab.

8. In the Counters pane, modify the default counter configuration by selecting a counter from the list and clicking the Update button.

9. In the Update dialog box, enter values for these fields:

   • type: The AVP code number that represents the counter type.

   • value: The initial unit value for this counter type.

10. Click OK to save your configuration changes.