1. Cloud Native Core Release Notes
  2. Feature Descriptions

2 Feature Descriptions

This chapter provides a summary of new features and updates to the existing features for network functions released in Cloud Native Core release 2.22.4.

2.1 Automated Testing Suite (ATS) Framework

Release 22.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Automated Test Suite (ATS) framework 22.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancement:

  • ATS API: This feature enables ATS to use the Application Programming Interface (API) to perform regular ATS tasks such as initiating test suites, monitoring test suite execution, and so on. For more information, see "ATS API" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Automated Testing Suite Guide.

2.2 Binding Support Function (BSF)

Release 22.4.7

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.5

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.2

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Binding Support Function (BSF) 22.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • NF Scoring for a Site: BSF supports the NF Scoring feature to calculate the site score based on Network Function (NF) specific factors such as metrics, alerts, and so on. The NF Scoring feature helps the operator to determine the health of a site. For more information on this feature and its configurations, see the "NF Scoring for a Site" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Binding Support Function User Guide.
  • Supports Graceful Termination of Kubernetes: In Kubernetes cluster, pods get deleted due to various events. All applications are notified of the immediate shutdown so that the applications can release all resources in an orderly manner. This feature has been introduced to support the termination of BSF's Kubernetes pods gracefully to reduce traffic loss.

Note:

All features from CNC BSF 22.3.2 are forward ported to 22.4.0.

2.3 Continuous Delivery Control Server (CDCS)

Release 22.4.2

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Continuous Delivery Control Server (CDCS) 22.4.2 has been updated with the following enhancements:

  • Uplift Oracle Linux: In this release, the base OS for CDCS VMs, and the host OS (when CDCS is installed on a bare metal server) is updated with the latest OS patches.
  • Stage View: In this release, the Jenkins Stage View plug-in is added. This plug-in allows the user to view stage-specific logs as well as the timing information for each stage.

Release 22.4.1

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Continuous Delivery Control Server (CDCS) 22.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:

  • Support for OCCNE Installation: CDCS supports OCCNE installation by creating a new Production and Staging Site to install OCCNE. For more information about the installation procedure, see Creating New Production Site and Creating New Staging Site sections in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.
  • Support for Discovering New Software Releases: : CDCS queries the Oracle FTP Server to determine which new NF releases are available to download by using the Discover New NF Releases on CDCS UI. For more information about the discovering procedure, see Discovering New NF Releases section in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.
  • Performs NF Health Check: CDCS performs a health check before and after upgrading an NF, and after installing an NF, to ensure that the installation or upgrade was successful. User can perform health check at any time for the NFs. For more information about the verification procedure, see Verifying NF Health section in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.
  • Performs OCCNE Health Check: CDCS performs a health check before and after upgrading OCCNE, and after installing OCCNE, to ensure that the installation or upgrade was successful. User can perform health check at any time for the OCCNE. For more information about the verification procedure, see Verifying OCCNE Health section in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.
  • NF Dependency Check: CDCS performs dependency checks between the NF being installed or upgraded and the OCCNE at the target site, and between the NF being installed or upgraded and other NFs that it depends on, before the installation or upgrade is attempted. If any of those dependencies are not satisfied, the installation or upgrade will fail. You can evaluate those dependencies before attempting the installation or upgrade using the Evaluate Dependencies for NF Release procedure in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.
  • Support to Delete NF Release: CDCS supports deletion of specific NF release if a user wants to remove a previously downloaded NF release from CDCS to ensure that no one installs that release. The Delete NF Release procedure removes a previously downloaded NF release from the internal CDCS repositories. For more information about the procedure, see Deleting NF Release section in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.
  • Support for Automated CDCS Upgrade: In the previous release, CDCS provided a manual procedure to upgrade from CDCS release 22.2.x to release 22.3.x. In this release, CDCS supports automated download and upgrade CDCS. For more information about the procedure, Preupgrade Tasks, Upgrade Tasks sections in Oracle Communications CD Control Server Installation and Upgrade Guide.
  • Enhancement in Email notification: Added an option to include the name of the user who initiated each procedure that has been added to the email notification. For more information about the option, see Configuring Email Notification section in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.
  • Option to ignore dependency checks: A check box has been added to the Install NF and Upgrade NF procedures, when selected, it allows the installation or upgrade to continue even if dependency checks fail. By default, this check box is not selected. You should not check this check box unless the installation or upgrade instructions for the NF you are installing or upgrading instructs you to do so. For more information about the check box, see Installing NF at a Managed Sites and Upgrading NF at a Managed Sites sections in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.
  • Option to automatically rollback if NF upgrade fails: A check box has been added to the Upgrade NF to auto-rollback the upgrade, if the upgrade fails. For more information about the check box, see Upgrading NF at a Managed Sites section in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.

2.4 Cloud Native Core Console (CNC Console)

Release 22.4.3

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.2

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.1

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Console (CNC Console) 22.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancement:
  • Support for Data Director: Oracle Communications Data Director (OCDD) is integrated with CNC Console. Features such as authentication, authorization of API/GUI requests, multicluster deployment, multi instance deployment, metrics, alerts, KPIs are supported. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Console Installation and Upgrade Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Console User Guide.
  • Support for latest versions of NFs: CNC Console provides support for existing NFs and Data Director:
    • SCP 22.4.0
    • NRF 22.4.0
    • UDR 22.4.0
    • POLICY 22.4.0
    • BSF 22.4.0
    • SEPP 22.4.0
    • NSSF 22.4.0
    • DD 22.0.0

For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Console Installation and Upgrade Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Console User Guide.

Documentation Enhancements

The CNC Console documentation has been updated with the following enhancements:

  • Document Enhancements in CNC Console Supported Deployment Models: Console supported deployment models are tested and documented in the Installation Guide. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Console Installation and Upgrade Guide.
  • Document Enhancements to Include cnDBTier Profiles for CNC Console Manager and Agent Deployments: For each supported Console deployment model corresponding DB Resource Profile and Console resource profile details are documented. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Console Installation and Upgrade Guide.

2.5 Cloud Native Core DBTier (DBTier)

Release 22.4.4

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.3

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.2

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.1

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core DBTier (DBTier) 22.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • DBTier Scaling: DBTier supports horizontal and vertical scaling of MySQL NDB Data PODs which improves the performance of DBTier. For more information about the feature, see "DBTier Scaling" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core DBTier User Guide.
  • Support for Multichannel Georeplication: DBTier supports multichannel georeplication feature that improves the georeplication performance between sites by parallelly replicating multiple databases and tables. For more information about the feature, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core DBTier User Guide.
  • Support for Skip Errors when Active and Standby Replication Channels Disconnect or are Lost: DBTier supports skipping the cluster disconnect errors. This is done by switching over the replication channel and then skipping the errors by making one of the Replication channel as ACTIVE. The Replication channel with the least epoch value after the cluster disconnect error occurs is selected as ACTIVE. For more information about the feature, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core DBTier User Guide.
  • Support for Alerts and Metrics to Skip Replication Errors: DBTier raises alerts if the total number of times the replication errors are skipped is more than the preconfigured values. For more information about the metrics and alerts related to this feature, see "Metrics and Alerts" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core DBTier User Guide.
  • Support for CNE versions: DBTier supports the following CNE versions:
    • CNE 22.1.x (K8s 1.21)
    • CNE 22.2.x (K8s 1.22)
    • CNE 22.3.x (K8s 1.23)
    • CNE 22.4.x (K8s 1.23)
  • Support for New Version of MySQL Cluster Software: The Oracle MySQL Cluster Database software is upgraded to 8.0.31 in this release.

2.6 Cloud Native Environment (CNE)

Release 22.4.5

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Upgrade Considerations:
  • containerd version 1.6.4 is not compatible with Kubernetes version 1.23.7. Therefore, containerd version is downgraded to 1.5.8. If you are upgrading from CNE 22.4.x to 22.4.5 and want to downgrade the containerd version from 1.6.4 to 1.5.8, then perform the following additional steps as part of the standard upgrade procedure:
    1. Before performing an upgrade, add the following line to the active bastion's occne.ini/hosts.ini file under the [occne:vars] section, to forcefully run the kubespray upgrader:
      occne_force_k8s_upgrade=True
    2. When the upgrade is complete, remove the following line, that you added in the previous step, from the active bastion's occne.ini/hosts.ini file:
      occne_force_k8s_upgrade=True

      For more information about the standard upgrade procedure, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Environment Upgrade Guide.

  • The kube_network_node_prefix_value variable must be defined at the time of installation only. Modifying this variable value during an upgrade leads to upgrade failures. Therefore, retain the same value that is assigned at the time of installation. For information on verifying the kube_network_node_prefix_value value, see the "Preupgrade Config Files Check" section of Oracle Communications Cloud Native Environment Upgrade Guide.

Release 22.4.4

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Upgrade Considerations:
  • containerd version 1.6.4 is not compatible with Kubernetes version 1.23.7. Therefore, containerd version is downgraded to 1.5.8. If you are upgrading from CNE 22.4.x to 22.4.4 and want to downgrade the containerd version from 1.6.4 to 1.5.8, then perform the following additional steps as part of the standard upgrade procedure:
    1. Before performing an upgrade, add the following line to the active bastion's occne.ini/hosts.ini file under the [occne:vars] section, to forcefully run the kubespray upgrader:
      occne_force_k8s_upgrade=True
    2. When the upgrade is complete, remove the following line, that you added in the previous step, from the active bastion's occne.ini/hosts.ini file:
      occne_force_k8s_upgrade=True

      For more information about the standard upgrade procedure, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Environment Upgrade Guide.

  • The kube_network_node_prefix_value variable must be defined at the time of installation only. Modifying this variable value during an upgrade leads to upgrade failures. Therefore, retain the same value that is assigned at the time of installation. For information on verifying the kube_network_node_prefix_value value, see the "Preupgrade Config Files Check" section of Oracle Communications Cloud Native Environment Upgrade Guide.

Release 22.4.3

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Upgrade Considerations:
  • containerd version 1.6.4 is not compatible with Kubernetes version 1.23.7. Therefore, containerd version is downgraded to 1.5.8. If you are upgrading from CNE 22.4.x to 22.4.3 and want to downgrade the containerd version from 1.6.4 to 1.5.8, then perform the following additional steps as part of the standard upgrade procedure:
    1. Before performing an upgrade, add the following line to the active bastion's occne.ini/hosts.ini file under the [occne:vars] section, to forcefully run the kubespray upgrader:
      occne_force_k8s_upgrade=True
    2. When the upgrade is complete, remove the following line, that you added in the previous step, from the active bastion's occne.ini/hosts.ini file:
      occne_force_k8s_upgrade=True

      For more information about the standard upgrade procedure, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Environment Upgrade Guide.

  • The kube_network_node_prefix_value variable must be defined at the time of installation only. Modifying this variable value during an upgrade leads to upgrade failures. Therefore, retain the same value that is assigned at the time of installation. For information on verifying the kube_network_node_prefix_value value, see the "Preupgrade Config Files Check" section of Oracle Communications Cloud Native Environment Upgrade Guide.

Release 22.4.2

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Cloud Native Environment (CNE) 22.4.2 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Supports Egress NAT with Multiple Egress Network: In this release, Egress NAT feature is extended to support Egress network routing. With this enhancement, any pod that performs egress requests can send egress message to multiple networks by providing egress annotations for pods. For more details on configuring this feature, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Environment User Guide.
Upgrade Considerations:

The kube_network_node_prefix_value variable must be defined at the time of installation only. Modifying this variable value during an upgrade leads to upgrade failures. Therefore, retain the same variable value that is assigned at the time of installation. For information on verifying the kube_network_node_prefix_value value, see the "Preupgrade Config Files Check" section of Oracle Communications Cloud Native Environment Upgrade Guide.

Release 22.4.1

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Environment (OCCNE) 22.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Network Separation for Egress Requests: In previous OCCNE releases, all requests generated by an application running on OCCNE contained the source IP of the Kubernetes worker node on which the application pod was running and all Kubernetes worker nodes got their IP addresses from the same external network. Therefore, all external requests coming from OCCNE had a source IP of that network. This was confusing as the requests arriving at a server outside of OCCNE appeared to be sent from a network other than the one that hosted the server. Also, the security policies in the customer's networking infrastructure blocked these requests. In this release, OCCNE allows an application to select a specific external network and uses an IP address from that network as the source IP field for its egress requests.
  • Private IPs for Kubernetes Worker Nodes: In previous OCCNE releases, all requests generated by an application running on OCCNE contained the source IP of the Kubernetes worker node on which the application pod was running. This exposed the Kubernetes worker nodes to external access which was a potential security concern. It also required a potentially large number of public IPs to deploy OCCNE. In this release, Kubernetes worker nodes are given IP addresses on the OCCNE internal network. As a result, Kubernetes worker nodes are no longer accessible outside of OCCNE, thereby reducing the attack surface of OCCNE. Also, the number of public IPs required to deploy OCCNE has been significantly reduced.
  • Bastion Host High Availability: With this release, OCCNE automatically selects an active Bastion Host when the current active Bastion Host fails. Additionally, Bastion Host synchronizes all repositories that includes binary files, container images, Yum packages, and Helm charts. This ensures that when nodes in the Kubernetes cluster need to load container images or Helm charts from the Docker, and Helm repositories hosted on the Bastion Hosts, they get the same images and charts, regardless of which Bastion Host is active.
  • Supports New Version of Common Services: CNE is compatible with the following common services versions:
    • Helm - 3.8.2
    • Kubernetes - 1.23.7
    • containerd - 1.6.4
    • Calico - 3.22.3
    • MetalLB - 0.12.1
    • Prometheus - 2.36.1
    • Grafana - 7.5.11
    • Jaeger - 1.28.0
    • Istio - 1.14.2 (upgraded)
    • cert-manager - 1.6.2

2.7 Networks Data Analytics Function (NWDAF)

Release 22.1.0

Oracle Communications Networks Data Analytics Function (NWDAF) 22.1.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:

  • NF Load Level Analytics: A new analytic "NF Load Level" is introduced in Release 22.1.0. With this new feature, the OCNWDAF can provide NF load analytics information to the analytics consumer. For more information, see Oracle Communications Network Data Analytics Function User Guide.
  • Slice Load Level Analytics: This analytics is updated to include new parameters "Load level information", "Percent UE", "Percent Sessions", and "Number of PDU Sessions". With this enhancement, the slice load level analytics provides more detailed information to the analytics consumer. For more information, see Oracle Communications Network Data Analytics Function User Guide.
  • Support for Helm Test: The OCNWDAF now supports Helm test. Helm Test is a feature that validates the successful installation of OCNWDAF and determines if the NF is ready to take traffic. For more information, see Oracle Communications Network Data Analytics Function Installation Guide and Oracle Communications Network Data Analytics Function Troubleshooting Guide.
  • Support for OCI Environment: Starting with release 22.1.0, OCNWDAF can be installed over OCI (Oracle Cloud Infrastructure). For more information about installation, see Oracle Communications Network Data Analytics Function Installation Guide.

2.8 Network Exposure Function (NEF)

Release 22.4.4

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.3

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.2

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Network Exposure Function (NEF) 22.4.2 has been updated with the following enhancement:

  • QoS Session - MediaType: Starting with release 22.4.2, OCNEF allows AFSessionWithQOS procedure to support the mediaType parameter in the Policy Control Function (PCF) Npcf_PolicyAuthorisation API.

    This parameter is mandatory to have a successful AF Session in QoS procedure with PCF.

Release 22.4.1

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Network Exposure Function (NEF) 22.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Support for Upgrade: Starting with release 22.4.0, OCNEF supports the upgrade from the previous releases, such as 22.3.0 and 22.3.1.
  • Support for Rollback: Starting with release 22.4.0, OCNEF supports the rollback to the previous releases, such as 22.3.0 and 22.3.1.
  • Georedundancy Support: OCNEF is enhanced to support Geographical Redundant (Georedundant) deployment. It offers two-sites georedundancy to ensure service availability when one of the OCNEF sites is down. For more information, see "Georedundancy Support" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Network Exposure Function User Guide.

2.9 Network Repository Function (NRF)

Release 22.4.4

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.3

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.2

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Network Repository Functions (NRF) 22.4.2 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Support for Ignoring Unknown Attribute in NFDiscovery Search Query: NRF supports configuring of NFDiscover search query attributes that can be ignored. Instead of sending 400 bad request for such attributes, NRF ignores the configured attributes and process the request. For more information about the feature, see "Ignore Unknown Attribute in NFDiscover Search Query" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.

Release 22.4.1

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Network Repository Functions (NRF) 22.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Limiting Maximum Allowed Subscriptions: OCNRF restricts the maximum allowed subscriptions to avoid the overload condition at OCNRF subscription microservice. OCNRF regulates the total number of allowed subscriptions using a configurable Global Subscription Limit. In case of georedundant OCNRFs, the limit is applied across all of the mated sites. For more information, see "Subscription Limit" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Network Repository Function User Guide.
  • Message Feed: OCNRF supports copying of both request and response HTTP messages routed through Ingress and Egress Gateways, to a Data Director. For more information, see "Message Feed" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Network Repository Function User Guide.
  • Kubernetes Probe Enhancement in NRF Microservices: OCNRF supports Startup probe along with enhanced Readiness and Liveliness probes for all the microservices. For more information on the configuration parameters, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Network Repository Function Installation and Upgrade Guide.

2.10 Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF)

Release 22.4.4

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.2

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.1

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.0

Oracle Communications Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) 22.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Support for Overload Control based on Percentage Discards: The Overload Control feature protects the system from overload and maintains the overall health of OCNSSF. It enables OCNSSF to not only detect the overload conditions but also mitigate such conditions by avoiding entering into an overload situation. For more information, see Overload Control based on Percentage Discards in OCNSSF Supported Features chapter of Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Network Slice Selection Function User Guide.
  • Support for Autopopulation of Configuration Using NRF Content: Currently, NSSF requires the operator to maintain AMF set data manually in the database, which it uses while responding to initial registration query during the subscription request. This enhancement removes the need for manual configuration by allowing NSSF to autoconfigure AMF information using NRF (Network Repository Function) whenever there is an update in the AMF Set data. For more information, see Autopopulation of Configuration Using NRF Content in OCNSSF Supported Features chapter of Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Network Slice Selection Function User Guide.
  • Support for OAuth Access Token Based Authorization Using Key-ID and NRF Instance ID: Before this enhancement, NSSF used NRF Instance ID to validate the access token, where Ingress Gateway stored public keys against NRF instance Id. This enhancement allows NSSF to use multiple public certificates for validating Access tokens by adding support for Key-ID (K-ID) based access token validation, in addition to the existing NRF Instance ID based access token validation. For more information, see OAuth Access Token Based Authorization in OCNSSF Supported Features chapter of Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Network Slice Selection Function User Guide.

2.11 Cloud Native Core Policy (CNC Policy)

Release 22.4.7

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.6

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.5

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.4

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.3

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.2

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.1

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy 22.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • NF Scoring for a Site: CNC Policy supports the NF Scoring feature to calculate the site score based on Network Function (NF) specific factors such as metrics, alerts, and so on. The NF Scoring feature helps the operator to determine the health of a site. For more information on this feature and its configurations, see "NF Scoring for a Site" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy User Guide.
  • Support for User-Agent Header: CNC Policy supports the user-agent header, which helps the producer Network Function (NF) to identify the consumer NF that has sent the request. For more information on this feature and its configurations, see "Support for User-Agent Header" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy User Guide.
  • Support for Sd interface: CNC Policy supports the Sd interface that enables it to communicate with the Traffic Detection Function (TDF). In this release, peer nodes sets configuration has been added to set the TDF connection service. For more information on this feature and its configurations, see "Support for Sd Interface" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy User Guide.
  • Concurrency Handling for PCRF-Core using Bulwark Service: PCRF-core supports the Bulwark service to handle the concurrent messages on Gx interface. PCRF-core interacts with Bulwark service using lock and unlock message exchanges by acquiring and releasing the User-IDs based lock upon receiving CCR-I/U/T messages. For more details, see "Support for Concurrency Handling using Bulwark Service in PCRF" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy User Guide.
  • Concurrency Handling for SM Service using Bulwark Service: CNC Policy supports the Bulwark service to handle the concurrent requests coming from other Policy services. The Bulwark service integrates with the SM service to handle the concurrent requests for the SM update-notify procedures. The SM service integration with Bulwark service handles the concurrent requests for the same subscriber in a concurrent and efficient manner. For more details, see "Support for Concurrency Handling using Bulwark Service" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy User Guide.
  • Handling Concurrent Notification Requests for PDS Service: When PDS receives concurrent notification requests for a subscriber (same SUPI) of the same data source, processing multiple notification requests at the same time can result in inaccurate data. To avoid this issue, PDS is integrated with Bulwark Service. Bulwark Service provides lock and unlock mechanism over a SUPI or GPSI key and allows processing of only one notification at a time. For more details, see "Support for Concurrency Handling using Bulwark Service" in Policy section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy User Guide.
  • Integration with NWDAF: CNC Policy 22.4.0 includes phase one implementation of CNC Policy integration with NWDAF for testing purposes. This integration helps to get analytics information, which PCF consumes to make policy decisions. For more details, see "NWDAF Agent" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy User Guide.
  • Timer Profile in Binding Service: CNC Policy applies the specific timeout profile while sending request to external NFs. In this release, PCF Binding Service has been updated for BSF. For more details, see "Timer Profiles" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy User Guide.
  • Delete Individual URSP Rule For Fragmented Delivery: CNC Policy is enhanced to support UE service with deletion of URSP rule(s) in subsequent call flows that were previously sent over N1N2 NAS message delivery. For more details, see "UE Policy Enhancements" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy User Guide.
  • Support for T3501 Timer Implementation: CNC Policy supports T3501 Timer for UE policy. For more details, see "PCF UE Policy Service" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy User Guide.
  • Database Optimization for the Performance Improvements: When using a replication setup that involves different sources, it is possible that the same row in a replica is updated by different sources. Conflict resolution in NDB cluster replication resolves such resolution conflicts by providing a user-defined conflict resolution column, which is used to determine whether an update from a source can be applied to the replica or not. Searching the Database for PDSProfile record was time consuming. The PDS search query is optimized by user by selecting the search index in order of preference in CM GUI.
  • Support for Spending Limit Status Reporting: CNC Policy provides an option to enable spending limit status in each of the create, update, and delete requests from the Policy Services (SM Service, AM Service, and UE Policy Service). The Spending Limit control enables the Policy services to retrieve policy counter status information per subscriber from CHF. That is, by subscribing to spending limit reporting (CHF Data), Policy services can receive notifications on Policy Counters from CHF. For more details, see "Support for Spending Limit Status Reporting" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy User Guide.
  • Support for Usage Monitoring in Session Viewer: CNC Policy now allows viewing the session details for Usage Monitoring service through CNC Console. For more details, see "Session Viewer" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy User Guide.
  • Subscriber Tracing support for AM and UE Policy: CNC Policy is enhanced to support subscriber tracing for AM and UE service. For more details, see "Subscriber Activity Logging" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy User Guide.

Note:

All the features from CNC Policy 22.3.1 and 22.3.2 are forward ported to 22.4.0.

2.12 Service Communication Proxy (SCP)

Release 22.4.4

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.3

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.2

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.1

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Service Communication Proxy (SCP) 22.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Observability Enhancements for SCP Inter-microservice Connectivity: This enhancement enables SCP to improve the SCP observability by introducing observability parameters to monitor inter-microservices communication failures. For more information, see "Observability Enhancements for SCP Inter-microservice Connectivity" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Load Control based on the Load Control Information Header: This feature enables SCP to enhance the existing load control functionality by enabling a direct exchange of the load information between 5G NFs and SCP using the 3gpp-Sbi-Lci header. For more information, see "Load Control based on the Load Control Information Header" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Message Feed: The feature allows copying of both request and response messages routed through SCP towards Data Director based on the configuration at SCP. For more information, see "Message Feed" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Global Egress Rate Limit to Support 75K TPS: The Global Egress Rate Limit feature is enhanced to support 75000 Transactions Per Second (TPS). For more information, see "Configuring Egress Rate Limiting and Global Egress Rate Limiting" in Oracle Communications Service Communication Proxy REST Specification Guide.
  • Outlier Detection Enhancement: The enhancement enables SCP to track the status of each endpoint of the producer NF or NF services. Upstream producer endpoints that continuously return the service responses with non-2xx status codes are removed from the routing pool for a predefined period based on the configured non-2xx status codes, counts, and ejection time. For more information, see "Circuit Breaking and Outlier Detection" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Error Code Generated by SCP: This is a documentation enhancement to add HTTP error responses generated by SCP. For more information, see "Error Code Generated by SCP" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Model D Enhancement: This enhancement introduces the enforceReqSpecificSvcDiscovery parameter to enforce NF Service specific Discovery Request in Model D. For more information, see "Configuring SCP Features" in Oracle Communications Service Communication Proxy REST Specification Guide.

2.13 Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP)

Release 22.4.4

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.3

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.2

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.1

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP) 22.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:

  • Hosted SEPP Feature: Hosted SEPP functionality provides selective routing in Roaming Hub mode.
    • Hosted SEPP can connect to multiple Remote SEPP Sets and allows selective routing between them.
    • Hosted SEPP can not be in the physical network of the partner or can be in the trust boundary of the partner.
    • Global Error Response can be configured on the Hosted SEPP, if routing is not allowed to Remote SEPP Set. For more information about the feature, see the "Hosted SEPP feature" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Security Edge Protection Proxy User Guide and the "Overview" and "Configuration Parameters" sections in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Security Edge Protection Proxy Installation and Upgrade Guide.
  • Cat 2 - Network ID Validation Feature: Cat 2 – Network ID Validation feature validates the PLMN ID of P-SEPP in the incoming SBI Request Messages over N32F Interface. This feature allows you to select specific SBI Requests Ingress and Egress to a Remote SEPP Set for which the Network ID Validation will be applied. It is applicable only on SBI request messages and not on SBI responses. For more information about the feature, see the "CAT-2 Network ID Validation feature" section and the "Configuration Parameters" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Security Edge Protection Proxy Installation and Upgrade Guide.
  • SEPP Message Feed Feature: This feature allows SEPP to report every incoming and outgoing message onto "Data Director" using the Ingress and Egress Gateways. This would enable SEPP to perform the following activities:
    • Lawful Interception
    • Call Tracing/Tracking
    • Debugging

    Data Director receives the messages from Gateways with a correlation-id and feeds the data securely to an external monitoring system.

    For more information about the feature, see the "SEPP Message Feed Feature" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Security Edge Protection Proxy User Guide and the "Configuration Parameters" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Security Edge Protection Proxy Installation and Upgrade Guide.

  • OSO Integration: OSO is integrated with SEPP services. OCSEPP supports OSO 22.3.x for common operation services (Prometheus and components such as alertmanager, pushgateway) on a Kubernetes cluster which does not have these common services. For more information on OSO installation procedure, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Operations Services Overlay Installation Guide.
  • Supports Integration with Aspen Service Mesh: SEPP leverages the Platform Service Mesh (for example, Aspen Service Mesh) for all the internal and external TLS communication. The service mesh integration provides inter-NF communication and allows API gateway to co-work with service mesh. The service mesh integration supports the services by deploying a special sidecar proxy in each pod to intercept all network communication between microservices. With this feature, all the SEPP services are leveraged to use ASM.

    For more information on configuring ASM, see "Configuring OCSEPP to support ASM" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Security Edge Protection Proxy Installation and Upgrade Guide.

  • SEPP to Support 30k MPS on a Single Site: SEPP to support 30k MPS on a single site. For more information on benchmarking details, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Security Edge Protection Proxy Benchmarking Guide.
  • Support for Customer Specific CSAR package: Customer has a specific format to create CSAR package. As a part of this feature, the customer specific CSAR package can be created as per the defined rules.

2.14 Unified Data Repository (UDR)

Release 22.4.2

No new features or feature enhancements have been introduced in this release.

Release 22.4.1

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Unified Data Repository (UDR) 22.4.x has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Equipment Identity Register (EIR) Enhancements: In this release, EIR supports 14 digit International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). For more information about the feature, see Support for 5G EIR Signaling in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Unified Data Repository User Guide.

Release 22.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Unified Data Repository (UDR) 22.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Support for Export of Equipment Identity Register (EIR) Subscriber Database: This feature supports exporting of EIR subscriber database containing all International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) and associated International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), and Mobile Station Integrated Services Digital Network (MSISDN) using the subscriber export tool. It provides automated and on demand export of the EIR database. For more information about the feature, see Supports Export of SLF and EIR Subscriber Database and Subscriber Export Tool section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Unified Data Repository User Guide.
  • Support for Export File Transfer to Remote Server: In this release, subscriber export tool has been introduced to provide the capability to securely transfer the exported data to a remote server using Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). It also supports monitoring the status of exported data transfer through CNC Console. For more information about the feature, see subscriber export tool section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Unified Data Repository User Guide.
  • Support for Remote File Transfer for Bulk Import for EIR: This feature provides the capability to securely transfer the files from the remote server using SFTP. This feature supports transferring-in the Provisioning Database Interface (PDBI) import files and transferring out the result log files to a remote server. For more information about the feature, see Secure File Transfer Support for Subscriber Bulk Import Tool section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Unified Data Repository User Guide.
  • Support for Subscriber Location Function (SLF) - Periodic Export of Subscriber Database: This feature supports periodic exporting of SLF subscriber data into Comma Separated Value (CSV) file format using the Subscriber Export Tool. The Subscriber Export Tool is scheduled for daily runs and is deployed as a stand-alone tool. It also supports dynamic configuration of periodicity of export. For more information about the feature, see Supports Export of SLF and EIR Subscriber Database and Subscriber Export Tool section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Unified Data Repository User Guide.