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 2.23.1.

2.1 Automated Testing Suite (ATS) Framework

Release 23.1.1

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

Release 23.1.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Test Suite (ATS) framework 23.1.0 has been updated with the following enhancement:

  • ATS Parallel Test Execution: Using this feature, you can perform multiple logically grouped tests simultaneously on the same System Under Test (SUT) to reduce the overall execution time of ATS. For more information, see "Parallel Test Execution" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Testing Suite Guide.

2.2 Binding Support Function (BSF)

Release 23.1.4

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

Release 23.1.3

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

Release 23.1.2

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

Release 23.1.1

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

Release 23.1.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function (BSF) 23.1.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Subscriber Activity Logging: BSF supports Subscriber Activity Logging that allows to define a list of subscribers (identifier) that you may require to troubleshoot in the NFs and trace all logs for a specific subscriber that is separately viewed. This functionality can be used to troubleshoot problematic subscribers without enabling logs or traces that can impact all the subscribers. For more information, see Subscriber Activity Logging section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function User Guide.
  • Configurations for Pre and Post Upgrade/Install Validations: BSF supports Upgrade Hardening, Pre and Post Flight Checks, which helps in validation checks that are required on the application, databases, and their related tables before and after the upgrade/installation of BSF application. These pre-flight and post-flight checks ensures that all the dependent databases, tables, schema, applications are in right order for performing successful update/installation. For more information, see Configurations for Pre and Post Upgrade/Install Validations section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function User Guide.
  • Support for New ASM Parameters in Helm Chart: BSF Aspen Mesh Custom Resource Definition (CRD) is customized by enabling or disabling various Helm parameters in the ocbsf-custom-values-servicemesh-config.yaml file. Envoy filter parameters, custom-http-stream, custom-tcpsocket-timeout, and custom-http-route are added to enable or disable HTTP Stream, TCP, and HTTP Route. For more details, see Deploying BSF with ASM section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native core, Binding Support Function Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • BSF Alarms and Observability Enhancement:
    • BSF Alerts: BSF list of Alerts is updated with new ones related to BINDING_QUERY_RESPONSE, DIAM_RESPONSE_NETWORK_ERROR, DUPLICATE_BINDING_REQUEST_ERROR and NRF Client. For more information, see List of Alerts section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function User Guide.
    • BSF Metrics: BSF list of Metrics is updated with new ones related to NRF Client. For more information, see Metrics NRF Client section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function User Guide.

2.3 Continuous Delivery Control Server (CDCS)

Release 23.1.1

Oracle Communications CD Control Server (CDCS) 23.1.1 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.
  • Support for New CNE Releases: In this release, CNE 22.4.3 installation and upgrade is supported.

Release 23.1.0

Oracle Communications CD Control Server (CDCS) 23.1.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:

  • Managing CNC Console GUI: CDCS launches the CNC Console GUI from the CDCS GUI. Use the Manage CNCC Link command to add a CNC Console link to the CDCS GUI. After a CNC Console link is added, the CNC Console GUI can be launched by clicking the appropriate menu on the CDCS GUI. For more information about accessing CNC Console GUI, see the "Managing CNC Console GUI Links" section in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.
  • Integrating LDAP Authentication: CDCS integrates LDAP authentication for users from an external LDAP server. Once the LDAP users are integrated, you can enable or disable the LDAP user authentication from CDCS. See the Oracle Communications CD Control Server Installation and Upgrade Guide for details on how to configure CDCS to use your LDAP server. For more information about the integration of LDAP, see the "Integrating LDAP Authentication" section in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.
  • Managing CDCS Rollback: Roll back CDCS to a previous release is possible from CDCS GUI. You can use the Rollback CDCS Upgrade command to roll back to a previous release. For more information about the rollback of CDCS, see the "Rolling back a CDCS Release" section in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.
  • Enhancing Existing Features:
    • Supporting CNE Release 22.4.0 and 22.4.1: CDCS supports installation and upgrade for CNE releases 22.4.0 and 22.4.1. CDCS GUI displays CNE 22.4.0 and 22.4.1 releases when running the Upgrade OCCNE, Create New Production Site, and Create New Staging Site commands. For more information about the commands, see the "Upgrading CNE at Managed Sites, Creating a New Production Site, Creating a New Staging Site" sections in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.
    • Supporting Timeout Parameter: CDCS supports a custom timeout value that was added to the NF Install pipeline. This value determines how long Helm will wait for the NF installation to complete. The default value is five minutes. For more information about the TIMEOUT parameter, see the "Installing NFs at Managed Sites" section in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.

2.4 Cloud Native Configuration Console (CNC Console)

Release 23.1.3

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

Release 23.1.2

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

Release 23.1.1

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

Release 23.1.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console (CNC Console) 23.1.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Console Support for NWDAF: CNC Console supports Oracle Communications Network Data Analytics Function (OCNWDAF). As part of CNC Console and NWDAF integration, features such as authentication, authorization of API/GUI requests, multicluster deployment, multi instance deployment, metrics, alerts, KPIs are now supported. For more information see the Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console User Guide.
  • Documented the Name Change of CNC Console: The acronym CNCC or CNC Console now stands for Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console.
  • Console Support for UDR ProvGW: CNC Console supports UDR ProvGW. As part of CNC Console and UDR ProvGW, features such as authentication, authorization of API/GUI requests, multi cluster deployment, multi instance deployment, metrics, alerts, and KPIs are now supported. For more information see the Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console User Guide.
  • Promxy Common Services Integration with Console: Promxy is a Prometheus proxy that makes many shards of Prometheus appear as a single API endpoint to the user. CNC Console has enabled support for Promxy. Features such as authentication, authorization of API/GUI requests, multi cluster deployment, multi instance deployment, metrics, alerts, KPIs are now supported. For more information see the Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide. Console Log Level Screen is enhanced to display SCP logRateControl.
  • Console Log Level Screen is enhanced to display SCP logRateControl.
  • Console Support for OpenSearch Dashboard and Jaeger-es: OpenSearch lets you visualize your Elasticsearch or Opensearch data, such as application logs, Jager spans and so on, and navigate the Elastic or OpenStack to perform a variety of tasks from tracking query load to understanding the way requests flow through your apps. Jaeger-es enables you to observe old traces stored in old Elasticsearch storage that are used for troubleshooting and monitoring microservices based distributed systems. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.

2.5 Cloud Native Core cnDBTier

Release 23.1.3

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

Release 23.1.2

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier 23.1.2 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • MySQL Support for Multi Threaded Applier (MTA) Feature: The MTA feature is disabled in this release due to certain issues in the feature.

Release 23.1.1

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier 23.1.1 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • MySQL Support for Multi Threaded Applier (MTA) Feature: With this release, MySQL 8.0.32 supports the Multi Threaded Applier feature. NDB replication is modified to support the use of generic MySQL Server MTA mechanism. This allows independent binlog transactions to be run in parallel at a replica, thereby increasing the peak replication throughput. This is a code level enhancement and doesn't require any additional configuration.

Note:

cnDBTier 23.1.1 supports rollback from 23.1.1 to 23.1.0, 22.4.x, and 22.3.x.

Release 23.1.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier 23.1.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Support for Kubernetes Node Selector: This feature allows the Kubernetes scheduler to determine the type of nodes in which the cnDBTier pods are to be scheduled, depending on the predefined node labels or constraints. cnDBTier uses nodeSelector and nodeAffinity options to schedule cnDBTier pods to specific worker nodes. For more information on this feature, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier User Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • Replacing SQL Commands in cnDBTier Procedures with REST APIs: With this release, cnDBTier has replaced SQL commands in cnDBTier procedures with REST APIs. This will restrict the access to the MySQL credentials and avoid the manual errors of breaking the replication between other remote sites.
  • Script to Change cnDBTier Passwords: With this release, cnDBTier provides a bash script to change cnDBTier passwords. This script can be used to change one or more cnDBTier passwords of stand alone and georeplicated clusters. For more information about this feature, see the "Changing cnDBTier Passwords" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier User Guide.
  • Support for New Version of MySQL Cluster Software: The Oracle MySQL Cluster Database software is upgraded to 8.0.32 in this release.

Note:

cnDBTier 23.1.x supports rollback from 23.1.x to 22.3.x and 22.4.x (with service account only). It doesn't support rollback to 22.4.x without service account.

2.6 Cloud Native Environment (CNE)

Note:

The procedure to update OpenStack credentials is revised in the 23.1.4 User Guide. If you are updating OpenStack credentials on other versions of 23.1.x, refer to the latest procedure from 23.1.4 Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment User Guide.

Release 23.1.4

There are no new features or feature enhancements in this release.

Release 23.1.3

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment (CNE) 23.1.3 has been updated with the following enhancements:

New Versions of Common Services: The following OpenSearch services are upgraded in this release:
  • Oracle OpenSearch - 2.3.0
  • Oracle OpenSearch Dashboard - 2.3.0
  • Fluentd OpenSearch - 1.16
These upgrades provide number of new features offered by OpenSearch. For example, Fluent Bit is replaced with Fluentd OpenSearch. That is, log forwarding mechanism is changed from fluent-bit to fluentd-openSearch. The other changes in the OpenSearch stack are as follows:
  • There are five OpenSearch data nodes created by default.
  • Upgrade from 22.4.x to 23.1.3 has Elastic Search to store old index data and OpenSearch to ingest new data.
  • CNE Environment upgrading from 23.1.1 and 23.1.2 requires OpenSearch Dashboard filters to be updated in saved queries.

OpenSearch and Fluentd Performance Considerations: OpenSearch and Fluentd are used for log ingestion. The performance of these services depends on the rate at which log forwarding happens, rate of ingestion, and log retention periods. It is advised to collect the aforementioned metrics from different components that are running in CNE cluster and ingesting logs to OpenSearch. The resource requirements of OpenSearch differs according to the collection of these metrics.

To get the complete list of third party services and their versions, refer to the dependencies_23.1.3.tgz file provided as part of the software delivery package.

Release 23.1.2

There are no new features or feature enhancements in this release.

Release 23.1.1

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment (CNE) 23.1.1 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Egress NAT with Multiple Egress Network Support: 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 Core, Cloud Native Environment User Guide.
  • Upgrade Consideration: 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 Core, Cloud Native Environment Upgrade Guide.

Release 23.1.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment (CNE) 23.1.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Productize Oracle OpenSearch as Elasticsearch Replacement: This release replaces Elasticsearch with Oracle OpenSearch as a log ingestion tool. Therefore, Elasticsearch and Kibana are no more supported and are replaced with Oracle OpenSearch and Oracle OpenSearch Dashboard, respectively. Oracle internally manages its own copy of OpenSearch called Oracle OpenSearch and OpenSearch Dashboard called Oracle OpenSearch Dashboard. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
    • Upgrade Impact: While performing an upgrade from 22.4.x to 23.1.0, the upgrade procedure offers an option to perform the upgrade with or without Elasticsearch. Elasticsearch and its related components are not removed when you perform an upgrade from 22.4.x to 23.1.0 to ensure any logging and metric data that is available in the preupgrade version of CNE 22.4.x is not lost. Both Elasticsearch and OpenSearch are available in CNE 23.1.0, however all new logs, after your upgrade to 23.1.0, is ingested in OpenSearch. You can access all the old logs using Elasticsearch and Kibana interface until the data expire. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • Replace Deprecated Kubernetes Pod Security Policy: PodSecurityPolicy (PSP) is a built-in admission controller that allows a cluster administrator to control security-sensitive aspects of pod specification. As Kubernetes has deprecated its PSP, CNE has adopted to a new framework called Kyverno. Kyverno provides security policies for CNE clusters and all PSP based access or security policies are upgraded with Kyverno. For more information on this framework, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment User Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • Automated Backup and Restore for CNE: In this release, CNE provides option to backup and restore CNE, including Bastion Hosts, using Velero. Velero provides tools to take on-demand backup and restore the Kubernetes cluster resources and persistent volumes. Velero runs as part of CNE cluster and can be administered from CLI interface. This feature helps to better manage CNE upgrades and replicate clusters for testing purposes. For more information about CNE backup and restore, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment User Guide.
    • Upgrade Impact: Velero is not installed as a part of the installation and upgrade process and needs to be activated post CNE installation or upgrade. This is due to Velero's dependency on block storage to store backups and the block storage must be s3 compatible. For more information on Velero activation process, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment User Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • New Versions of Common Services: The following common services are upgraded in this release:
    • Helm - 3.9.4
    • Kubernetes - 1.24.6
    • containerd - 1.6.4
    • Calico - 3.23.3
    • MetalLB - 0.13.7
    • Prometheus - 2.39.1
    • Grafana - 9.1.7
    • Jaeger - 1.39.0
    • Istio - 1.15.3
    • Kyverno - 1.7.3
    • cert-manager - 1.10.0

You can find the complete list of third party services and their versions in the dependencies_23.1.0.tgz file provided as part of the software delivery package.

2.7 Network Exposure Function (NEF)

Release 23.1.4

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

Release 23.1.3

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

Release 23.1.2

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

Release 23.1.1

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

Release 23.1.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Exposure Function (NEF) 23.1.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Support for Traffic Influence: Traffic Influence is mainly used by AFs to influence the routing decisions on the user plane traffic. It allows the AF to decide the routing profile and the route for data plane from UE to network in a particular PDU session. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Exposure Function Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Exposure Function User Guide.
  • Supports Converged SCEF-NEF: With the introduction of this feature, when a UE request is sent from a 4G network, MME node detects this event and sends the notification to NEF. As NEF is not capable of accepting the diameter requests, a Diameter Gateway is used to allow the diameter traffic to NEF. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Exposure Function Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide, Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Exposure Function User Guide, and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Exposure Function Troubleshooting Guide.

2.8 Network Repository Function (NRF)

Release 23.1.4

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

Release 23.1.3

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

Release 23.1.2

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

Release 23.1.1

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Functions (NRF) 23.1.1 has been updated with the following enhancement:
  • Support for Configurable Port and Routing Parameter Selection: NRF provides a configurable option to select a port, if not configured explicitly, either from IPEndpoint or using the scheme attribute of NfService. Additionally, NRF allows to configure the preferred routing attribute in case more than one of the following attributes is present in the NfProfile or NfService:
    • IPv4 (ipv4Addresses from IpEndpoint of NfService if present, or ipv4Addresses of NfProfile)
    • IPv6 (ipv6Addresses from IpEndpoint of NfService if present, or ipv6Addresses of NfProfile)
    • FQDN (fqdn of NfService if present, or fqdn of NfProfile)

For more information about the feature, see "Configurable Port and Routing Parameter Selection" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.

Release 23.1.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Functions (NRF) 23.1.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Support for TLS 1.2 SNI Extension: NRF supports Server Name Identification (SNI) header for TLS handshake messages to identify the server to which the connection must be established. For more information about the feature, see "TLS SNI Header Validation" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.
  • Pod Protection Support for NRF Subscription Microservice: NRF Subscription microservice is responsible for the NfStatusSubscribe, NfStatusUnsubscribe, and NfStatusNotify service operations. These service operations send notifications and requests to Subscription microservice and thus lead the Subscription microservice to congested or overload condition. This feature protects the Subscription microservice from overload situations and maintain the overall health. For more information about the feature, see "Subscription Microservice Pod Protection" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.
  • Support for notification-type Nfdiscover Attribute: NRF supports notification-type as a query parameter in GET Discovery API to provide default notification subscriptions that were registered in the NFProfile or NFService of the NF Instances being discovered in the response. Along with notification-type, n1-msg-class and n2-info-class discovery query attributes are also supported.
  • Support for Auditing the Availability of NRF Tables: NRF detects any inconsistency in the system at early stage of installation and reports the same. The validations are done during the preinstallation and postinstallation. For more information about the feature, see "Audit NRF Database Tables" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.
  • Support for NodeSelector for NRF Microservices: NRF allows the Kubernetes scheduler to determine the type of nodes in which the NRF pods are scheduled, depending on the predefined node labels or constraints. Node selector is a basic form of cluster node selection constraint. It allows you to define the node labels (constraints) in the form of key-value pairs. When the nodeSelector feature is used, Kubernetes assigns the pods to only the nodes that match with the node labels you specify. For more information about the feature, see "Node Selector" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.
  • Support for using Last Known NFProfile during Replication Down: NRF considers the last known NfProfiles of remote NRFs for any service operations during platform maintenance, network issues, or for any other reason, if the replication channels go down. For more information about the feature, see "Using Last Known NfProfile during Replication Down" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.
  • Support for Using App-Info Microservice to Fetch DB Replication Status: NRF queries appInfo microservice for fetching database replication channel status instead of Database Monitor service. For more information about the feature, see "Fetching the Database Replication Channel Status Using appinfo Microservice" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.
  • 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.

2.9 Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF)

Release 23.1.2

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

Release 23.1.1

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) 23.1.1 has been updated with the following enhancement:
  • Functionality to Delete Subscription When Notification Request Gets a 404 Subscription Not Found Response: This feature, an enhancement to NSSF Notify Service Operation, updates the NF Service Consumer (for example, AMF) of any change in status. When it is enabled, it eliminates the unnecessary delay in response by logging the error and deleting the subscription whenever AMF sends the '404 Subscription Not Found' response. For more information, see "Functionality to Delete Subscription When Notification Request Gets a 404 Subscription Not Found Response" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Slice Selection Function User Guide.

Release 23.1.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) 23.1.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Support for DNS SRV Based Selection of SCP in NSSF: This enhancement enables NSSF to learn SCP configuration based on DNS SRV based FQDN, in addition to the already existing static manual configuration by the operator. Additionally, it extends support for AlternateRoute Service, which allows the configuration of as many dynamic sets of SPC instances in NSSF in contrast to only one static configuration in the previous scenarios. For more information, see "DNS SRV Based Selection of SCP in NSSF" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Slice Selection Function User Guide.
  • NSSF ATS Golden Configuration: This enhancement gives the ability to run test cases defined by NSSF on customer's Golden Configuration. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Testing Suite Guide.
  • Configuration of Network Policies: Network policies allow ingress or egress rules to be defined based on Kubernetes resources such as Pod, Namespace, IP, and Ports. These rules are selected based on Kubernetes labels in the application. These network policies enforce access restrictions for all the applicable data flows except communication from Kubernetes node to pod for invoking container probe. For more information, see "Configuring Network Policies" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Slice Selection Function Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.

2.10 Policy

Release 23.1.8

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

Release 23.1.7

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy 23.1.7 has been updated with the following enhancement:
  • Enhancements to Audit Configurations: Audit Service configurations in CNC Policy is enhanced with addition of a new parameter Minimum Audit Attempts to PCF Session Management, Binding Service, and Audit Service pages on CNC Console. These enhanced configurations resolve the issues related to identification and deletion of stale records by Audit Service. For more information, see "Configuring CNC Policy Using CNC Console" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.

Release 23.1.6

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

Release 23.1.5

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

Release 23.1.4

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

Release 23.1.3

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

Release 23.1.2

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

Release 23.1.1

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

Release 23.1.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy 23.1.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Pending Transaction on N15 for AM and UE Policy Association: Policy supports pending transactions at the N15 interface to handle race conditions in a deterministic manner. For more information on how to configure this feature using CNC Console, see the "Pending Transaction on N7 and N15 Interface" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Timer Handling Enhancements for AM and UE Policy Service: Policy is enhanced to support timer handling for AM and UE policy. For more information on how to configure this feature using CNC Console, see the "SBI Timer Handling" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Detection and Handling of Late Arrival Requests on the N15 Interface for AM and UE Policy: Policy is enhanced to support the detection and handling of late arrival requests on the N15 interface for AM and UE Policy to detect the response time for the components received in the headers from the Ingress Gateway. For more information on how to configure this feature using CNC Console, see the "Detection and Handling of Late Arrival Requests" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Consistent UDR Updates Using ETag: When two different Policies are connected to UDR in a georedundant setup and both are updating the UsageMonData for the same subscriber simultaneously, there is the possibility of data loss as the update can overwrite each other. ETag (Entity Tag) support helps to make sure that the update is successful only when the consumer has the latest set of data. For more information on how to configure this feature using CNC Console, see the "Consistent UDR Updates using ETag" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • SCP Selection When Priority is Same: Policy is enhanced to support a weight factor when the priorities of the peers are the same. This weight factor will be the deciding factor as to which peer is to be picked when the priorities of the peers are the same. For more information on how to configure this feature, see the "SCP Configuration" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • Session Retry SM Service Notification Enhancement: Policy supports Session Retry for SMF notification to use servicename for SMF discovery and selection. For more information, see the "Support for Session Retry and Alternate Route Service" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Session Retry Configuration to Retry SUBSCRIPTION towards UDR as an INITIAL or SUBSEQUENT Message: Policy supports Session Retry in Policy to provide configuration to Retry SUBSCRIPTION towards UDR as an INITIAL or SUBSEQUENT message. For more information, see the "Support for Session Retry and Alternate Route Service" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Notification Request Retries for AM and UE Policy: Policy is enhanced to support retry with NF Sets, binding headers, Server-PCF as an HTTP Client, and Notification Producer for AMF as a notification consumer for AM and UE policy. For more information, see the "Support for Session Retry and Alternate Route Service" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Concurrency Handling for SM Update SM Clean: Policy uses the Bulwark service to handle the concurrent requests coming from other Policy services. The Bulwark service integrates with SM service to handle the concurrent requests for the SM Update and the SM Clean 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" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Support for State Variables in Policy: Policy provides state variables support for SM Service, AM Service, and UE Policy Service. The State variables hold the intermediate state of the policy evaluation. The state variables are defined by the policy writer that can be set within a policy action to be used at a later time during policy rule execution (in either conditions or actions). The names of these variables are not predefined and are determined by the policy writer. For more details, see "State Variables in Policy" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Support for Successful Resource Allocation for PCC Rules: The Successful Resource Allocation (SRA) enables Policy to get the status of the Policy and Charging Control Rule (PCC Rules) that are successfully installed and validated by Session Management Function (SMF). Policy writer can take appropriate action based on the successful activation of a rule. For example, a Policy writer can hold updating the installed PCC rule unless SRA is applied at SMF. For more details, see "Support for Successful Resource Allocation for PCC Rules" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Support for MCPTT Features: This feature enables Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) support for MCPTT related QoS Class Identifier (QCI)s, and MCPTT specific features such as Priority sharing and Preemption. PCRF enables MCPTT for a session based on the supported features exchanged between the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF)/Application Function (AF) and PCRF (dynamic discovery of supported features). For more details, see "Support for MCPTT Features" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Support for Overload Control SBI - Threshold Configuration Using CNC Console: Policy supports configuration of Overload Control Thresholds based on active threshold profiles using CNC Console. For more details, see "Overload Control Threshold Configuration" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • AMF Selection for Namf-comm Subscription: Policy supports discovering AMF as a producer based on AMF SetID and AMF Region ID, which are extracted from Globally Unique AMF Identifier (GUAMI). This aids in transfering the UE Policy to UE through AMF and sending initial subscription request to AMF during UE Policy Transfer request. For more details, see "UE Policy Enhancements" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Configurations for Pre and Post Upgrade/Install Validations: Policy supports Upgrade Hardening, Pre and Post Flight Checks, which helps in validation checks that are required on the application, databases, and its related tables before and after the upgrade/installation of BSF application. These pre-flight and post-flight checks ensures that all the dependent databases, tables, schema, applications are in right order for performing successful update/installation. For more information, see "Configurations for Pre and Post Upgrade/Install Validations" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Support for New ASM Parameters in Helm Chart: Policy Aspen Mesh Custom Resource Definition (CRD) is customized by enabling or disabling various Helm parameters in the occnp-custom-values-servicemesh-config.yaml file. Envoy filter parameters custom-http-stream, custom-tcpsocket-timeout and custom-http-route are added to enable or disable HTTP Stream, TCP and HTTP Route. For more details, see "Deploying Policy with ASM" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native core, Converged Policy Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • Audit Service Multi-pod Support: Audit Service is responsible for auditing the database to monitor stale records, and either notify or clean up these stale records. Audit service with single pod deployment makes it neither scalable nor highly available. Now, Policy supports Audit service multiple pods by using Audit Schedule. Audit Schedule helps to effectively manage and plan the audit service on the registered services. For more information, see "Audit Service" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.

2.11 Service Communication Proxy (SCP)

Release 23.1.3

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

Release 23.1.2

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

Release 23.1.1

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

Release 23.1.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy (SCP) 23.1.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Routing Support for NEF Services: This feature enables SCP to determine Network Exposure Function (NEF) profile registration and updates from Network Repository Function (NRF) and create routing and alternate-routing rules for NEF services. For more information, see "Routing Support for NEF Services" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Extension of HTTP Status Code List for Rerouting: SCP can reroute a message request based on the user-provided configurable error codes. For more information, see "Extension of HTTP Status Code List for Rerouting" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • ATS Parallel Test Execution: This is an ATS Framework feature. Using this feature, you can perform multiple logically grouped tests simultaneously on the same System Under Test (SUT) to reduce the overall execution time of ATS. For more information, see "Parallel Test Execution" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Testing Suite Guide.
  • Support for NF Status Notifications with Partial NF Profile: SCP supports partial profile processing, that is, Notification with profileChanges processing. For more information, see "SCP Interactions with NRF" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Host Preference for Egress Message Requests: This feature enables SCP to determine the host type to be included in the egress message requests based on the 3gpp-Sbi-Target-apiRoot header, hostPreference REST API configuration, and learned Network Function (NF) profile from Network Repository Function (NRF). For more information, see "Host Preference for Egress Message Requests" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Enhanced 5G SBI Message Failure Handling: This enhancement enables SCP to add a server header with its Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) for the self-generated error responses when SCP does not receive a server header in an error response from a producer NF. If SCP is deployed with Aspen Service Mesh (ASM), SCP adds a server header with its FQDN in the error responses received from the service mesh sidecar. For more information, see "Enhanced 5G SBI Message Failure Handling" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.

2.12 Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP)

Release 23.1.4

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

Release 23.1.3

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

Release 23.1.2

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

Release 23.1.1

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

Release 23.1.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP) 23.1.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:

  • Rate Limiting for Ingress Roaming Signaling per Remote SEPP Set: This feature provides ingress request rate limiting on N32 Interface based on Remote SEPP Set to throttle messages from the Remote SEPP sending more than configured limit for the Remote SEPP Set. There can be scenarios where the flood of messages at Remote SEPP Set level need to be controlled.

    With this feature, SEPP secures the network when aggregated traffic at the Remote SEPP level exceeds the allowed traffic rate limit. If the traffic exceeds the allowed traffic rate limit, SEPP does not process the traffic and responds with an error code. The rate limiting functionality at SEPP allows an operator to configure the acceptable traffic rate from a consumer NF instance.

    SEPP enables users to configure the maximum number of incoming messages at a given duration. For more information about the feature, see the "Rate Limiting for Ingress Roaming Signaling per Remote SEPP Set" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy User Guide, Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy REST API Specification Guide, and "Configuration Parameters" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy Installation and Upgrade Guide.

  • Support for 3-Site Georedundancy: The SEPP architecture supports georedundant deployments to ensure high availability and redundancy. It offers 3-site georedundancy to ensure service availability when one of the SEPP sites is down. When SEPP is deployed in a three-site georedundant setup, all the three SEPP sites work in an Active state. For more information about the feature, see the "Support for 3-Site Georedundancy" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy User Guide.
  • Steering of Roaming (SOR): SOR is deployed as a roaming management solution intended for optimizing roaming cooperation between operators. It allows flexible network selection management for outbound roamers to stimulate an appropriate roaming network choice for subscribers. SEPP supports the SOR feature to provide better roaming experience to the customers.
    Based on the redirection of response from SOR platform, the feature can be implemented in the following two modes.
    • Redirection Disabled Mode (Passive Mode): In this mode, SEPP supports sending UDM traffic to an asserted UDM when traffic steering (Steering of Roaming) platform fails to route the message. SOR either connects to the required subscriber or returns the location of the required subscriber to the home SEPP.
    • Redirection Enabled Mode (Active Mode): In this mode, SEPP supports directing UDM messages to a Steering of Roaming Application Server.

    For more information about the feature, see the "Steering of Roaming (SOR)" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy User Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy REST API Specification Guide.

  • Cat 2 - Validation of CSEPP PLMN ID: Cat 2 – Network ID Validation feature allows the user to validate the PLMN ID of Producer SEPP and Consumer SEPP in the SBI Request Messages over N32 Interface in SEPP Mode as well as in Roaming Hub Mode.

    Existing CAT 2 Network ID Validation feature is enhanced to support Validation of CSEPP PLMN ID on consumer and Producer SEPP against the configured list of PLMN IDs (Local as well as Remote SEPP) for any Ingress or Egress messages which can contain this information.

    Example: Any message configured to validate CSEPP PLMN ID, that contains the servingNetworkName Body IE parameter must be used for this validation. For more information about the feature, see the "CAT 2 - Network ID Validation Feature" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy User Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy REST API Specification Guide.

  • SEPP Automated Testing Suite (ATS) is Configured to Support Aspen Service Mesh: SEPP Automated Testing Suite (ATS) is configured to Support Aspen Service Mesh (ASM). The new ASM related test cases are added in ATS and existing ATS cases are updated to support both ASM and non-ASM platform. For more information about the feature, see the Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Testing Suite Guide.
  • Support 62K MPS per SEPP Instance: SEPP is enhanced and optimized the micro services code to support 62K MPS per SEPP instance. For more information on benchmarking details, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy Benchmarking Guide.
  • SEPP Performance with Bare Minimum Resources: As part of SEPP resource footprint optimization, SEPP's minimum performance is tested on bare-minimum resource footprint per microservice. For more information about the feature, see the "Resource Requirements" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy Installation, and Upgrade Guide.

2.13 Unified Data Repository (UDR)

Release 23.1.3

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

Release 23.1.2

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

Release 23.1.1

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

Release 23.1.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository (UDR) 23.1.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • ETag (Entity Tag) Support for UDR: When two different Cloud Native Policy and Charging Rules Function (cnPCRF) are connected to UDR in a georedundant setup and both the PCRF are updating the UsageMonData for the same subscriber simultaneously, there is possibility of data loss as the updates can overwrite each other. ETag support for UDR helps to make sure that the update is successful only when the consumer has the latest set of data, which is determined by the ETag value received at UDR. When you send a GET sm-data request to get the UsageMonData, the ETag header with default value 0 is attached with the sm-data and added in the GET sm-data response. This ETag value is used in PUT or PATCH update request with if-match header to maintain concurrency control. For more information about the feature, see "ETag support for UDR" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide.
  • ETag Notifications: UDR sends updated ETag notifications header to the consumer about the current state of the usage monitoring data. This enables the consumer to update the ETag values in the subsequent update operations. For more information about the feature, see "ETag support for UDR" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide.
  • Controlled Shutdown of an Instance: UDR supports controlled shutdown to provide the partial or complete isolation of the site from the network so that the operator can perform necessary recovery procedures. For more information about the feature, see "Controlled Shutdown of an Instance" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide.
  • Auto Enrollment: Consumer NFs such as cnPCRF need UDR to enroll the subscriber record with policy data sent on the N36 interface. This is required for subscribers in roaming scenarios, where cnPCRF does a PATCH operation to update the subscriber data. Auto enrollment enables UDR to auto enroll the subscriber if the subscriber record does not exist. Auto enrollment also supports UDR in creating mandatory attribute smPolicySnssaiData with configured default values when NF such as cnPCRF does not include smPolicySnssaiData attribute in sm-data.
    The auto enrollment feature in UDR supports the auto provisioning of subscribers for the following signaling APIs:
    • PATCH on SessionManagementPolicyData
    • PUT on UsageMonitoringInformation

    For more information about the feature, see "Auto Enrollment" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide.

  • CNC Console Support for Provision Gateway Configurations: CNC Console support is provided for Provision Gateway to configure the parameters. For more information about the feature, see "Configuring Provisioning Gateway using CNC Console" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide.
  • Support for Application Log Collection for UDR ATS: Application log collection enables ATS to collect logs from System Under Test (SUT) when there are scenario failures. The user can set log level to one of values mentioned below:
    • WARN
    • INFO
    • DEBUG
    • ERROR
    • TRACE

    For more information about the feature, see "UDR Application Log Collection" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Testing Suite Guide.

  • Aspen Service Mesh (ASM) enhancement support for UDR: The following enhancements are supported:
    • Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Connection in destination rules
    • TCP connection and The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) stream in envoy filters
    • HTTP route in virtual service

    For more information about the feature, see "ASM Specific Configuration" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide.