Hardware, Applications, and Functions

The IP7 Secure Gateway functionality is provided by applications that run on IP cards or E5-ENET cards. IP cards provide interfaces between the IMT bus and two 10/100 Base-T IEEE 802.3/DIX Ethernet interfaces. The IP cards, similar to any other Link Interface Module (LIM), use the Interprocessor Message Transport (IMT) bus to communicate with the other cards in the EAGLE. Like other LIMs, the primary job of an IP card is to send and receive SS7 data on a network (in this case, an IP network), and to route that data to other cards in the EAGLE as appropriate.

The IP card can run on the following applications:

• iplim or iplimi - Both applications support STP connectivity via MTP-over-IP functionality point-to-point connectivity (for more information, see Point-to-Point Connectivity (IPLIM or IPLIMI Application)).

  The iplim and iplimi applications support these types of connections:

  • M2PA/SCTP/IP (A, B, C, D, and E links)
  • SCP
  • SEP
  • SCP/SEP

    This type of connection is essentially the same as that of a traditional SS7 point-to-point link, except that the traditional MTP2 and 56Kb/s technology is replaced by IP and Ethernet technology.

    The iplim application supports point-to-point connectivity for ANSI networks. The iplimi application supports point-to-point connectivity for ITU networks. With the optional ANSI/ITU MTP Gateway feature and proper configuration, the EAGLE could convert between any of the ANSI, ITU-N, and ITU-I networks, switch traffic between these networks, and perform network management for each of these networks (for more information, see Mixed Networks Using the ANSI/ITUMTP Gateway Feature).

    The EAGLE can support up to 100 cards running the iplim and iplimi applications.

• ss7ipgw and ipgwi - These applications support the following types of point-to-multipoint connectivity for networks:
  • SCP connectivity via SCCP/TCAP-over-IP functionality (for more information, see Connecting to SCPs with SCCP/TCAP Messages Sent Over the IP Network)
  • SEP connectivity via ISUP, Q.BICC, and TUP-over-IP functionality (for more information, see Connecting SEPs Using ISUP, Q.BICC, and TUP Messages Over the IP Network)
  • SCP/SEP connectivity via non-ISUP, non-SCCP, non-Q.BICC, and non-TUP-over-IP functionality (for more information, see Connecting SCPs and SEPs Using Non-ISUP, Non-SCCP, Non-Q.BICC, and Non-TUP Messages Over the IP Network)

    The ss7ipgw application supports point-to-multipoint connectivity for ANSI networks. The ipgwi application supports point-to-multipoint connectivity for ITU networks.

    The EAGLE can support a maximum of 125 cards running the ss7ipgw and ipgwi applications.

In addition to running an iplim, iplimi, ss7ipgw, or ipgwi application, each IP card supports the following functions:

• A Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) agent. For more information, see SNMP Agent Implementation.
• Message Transfer Part (MTP) status. This function is available only on IP cards that support the ss7ipgw or ipgwi application. For more information, see Support for MTP Status Functions.