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 3.23.4.

2.1 Automated Testing Suite (ATS) Framework

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Test Suite (ATS) framework 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:

  • Support for Transport Layer Security: With the introduction of this feature, Jenkins servers have been upgraded to support HTTPS, ensuring a secure and encrypted connection when accessing the ATS dashboard. For more information, see "Support for Transport Layer Security" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Test Suite Guide.
  • ATS Feature Activation and Deactivation: This feature allows users to activate or deactivate specific features within the ATS using Helm charts. For more information, see "ATS Feature Activation and Deactivation" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Test Suite Guide.
  • Individual Stage Group Selection: This feature allows users to select and execute a single or multiple stages or groups by selecting a check box for the corresponding stage or group. For more information, see "Individual Stage Group Selection" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Test Suite Guide.

2.2 Binding Support Function (BSF)

Release 23.4.4

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

Release 23.4.2

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

Release 23.4.1

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

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function (BSF) 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Diameter Session Retry for Rx AAR Messages: BSF sends the Rx AAR diameter messages toward the PCF Diameter Gateway. This feature enables BSF to retry sending the failed Rx AAR diameter messages. The operator can attempt to resend failed diameter message for Rx diameter interface using CNC Console configurations. For more information about the feature, see "Diameter Session Retry" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function User Guide.
  • Support for BSF Status on NRF on CNC Console: This features enables Operator to check the following status on BSF CNC Console:
    • BSF registered NF profile and its status on NRF
    • Currently active, primary, secondary, or any other alternate NRF instances status. For more information about the feature, see "Support for BSF Status on NRF on CNC Console" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function User Guide.
  • Migration from opentracing to OpenTelemetry: OpenTelemetry automatic instrumentation has been implemented to show similar traces as Open Tracing in Jaeger UI. For more details, see "Tracing Configurations" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, BSF Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.

    Note:

    Preupgrade consideration: When upgrading from 23.2.0 to 23.4.0, certain scenarios needs to be considered. For more information, see "Preupgrade Tasks" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, BSF Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • Enhancements to discard policy for diameter sessions: Discard policy for diameter sessions is enhanced with options to discard sessions based on priority and priority percentage. For more information, see "Load Shedding Profiles" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function User Guide.
  • Support for Network Policies: Network Policies are an application-centric construct that allows to specify how a pod communicates with various network entities. It creates pod-level rules to control communication between the cluster's pods and services, and to determine which pods and services can access one another inside a cluster. For more information, see "Network Policies" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function User Guide.
  • ATS Feature Activation and Deactivation: This feature allows to activate or deactivate the specific features within the ATS using Helm charts. Once these features are removed, they cannot be reinstated in the deployed ATS. However, users have the option to reinstall the ATS to restore the disabled features. For more information about the feature, see "ATS Feature Activation and Deactivation" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Testing Suite Guide.

2.3 Continuous Delivery Control Server (CDCS)

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications CD Control Server (CDCS) 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:

  • Support for updating Oracle Linux: CDCS allows to update the base Oracle Linux version for CDCS VMs and the host OS (when CDCS is installed on a BareMetal server) with the latest version (9.x). For more information about the Oracle Linux version, see the Oracle Communications CD Control Server Installation and Upgrade Guide.
  • Support for CNE releases: CDCS supports the installation and upgrade of CNE releases 23.1.x, 23.2.x, 23.3.x, and 23.4.0. A specific release can be installed by selecting the supported release versions while running the Install OCCNE and Upgrade OCCNE commands. For more information about selecting the versions, see the "Managing CNE" section in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.
  • Support for CNE backup and restore: CDCS helps to take a backup of CNE using the Schedule OCCNE Backup command and restore CNE using the Restore OCCNE command at any managed site. For more information about this feature, see the "Managing CNE" section in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.
  • Support for new installation options: CDCS now supports the use of custom configurable volumes for the Bootstrap and other CNE VMs for storage on OpenStack. For more information, see the Oracle Communications CD Control Server Installation and Upgrade Guide.
  • Support for new commands: CDCS supports the following new commands:
    • Activate OCCNE Backup Feature
    • Activate OCCNE Local DNS Feature
    • Configure OCCNE Backup
    • Restore OCCNE

    For more information about the new commands, see the sections "Activating CNE Backup Feature ", "Activating CNE Local DNS Feature", "Creating CNE Backup", and "Restoring CNE from Backup" in Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.

For more details about the features released in CDCS 23.4.x, see Oracle Communications CD Control Server User Guide.

2.4 Cloud Native Core cnDBTier

Release 23.4.6

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier (cnDBTier) 23.4.6 has been updated with the following enhancement:
  • Enhancement to Georeplication Recovery: With this enhancement, cnDBTier has improved the rate at which the backup files are transferred between sites during a georeplication recovery. This improvement is achieved:
    • using Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) instead of CURL to transfer backup files between sites.
    • configuring a separate parameter (numberofparallelbackuptransfer) to perform the parallel transfer of backups in the data nodes. For more information about this parameter, see the "Customizing cnDBTier" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.

Release 23.4.5

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

Release 23.4.4

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

Release 23.4.3

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

Release 23.4.2

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

Release 23.4.1

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier (cnDBTier) 23.4.1 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • TLS Support for Georeplication: With this feature, cnDBTier automates the process of configuring TLS for georeplication between cnDBTier sites. On enabling this feature, the replication SQL pod uses the certificates provided or configured to establish an encrypted connection for georeplication. This ensures that the replication data transfer is secure. For more information about this feature, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier User Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
    Consideration: If you are enabling TLS for the replication channels in this release, be informed about the following conditions:
    • You can't roll back from 23.4.1 to previous releases.
    • You cannot upgrade from 23.4.1 to any future versions of 23.4.x. However, cnDBTier plans to resolve this upgrade restriction in a future release.
  • dbtrecover Support for Georeplication Recovery Between Different cnDBTier Versions: With this feature, the dbtrecover script supports georeplication recovery between sites that are running on different cnDBTier versions. For more information about this feature, see the "Recovering Georeplication Sites Using dbtrecover" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
    Consideration: Consider the following conditions before using the dbtrecover script for performing a georeplication recovery between sites running on different cnDBTier versions:
    • The script supports georeplication recovery between sites only in the following cases:
      • The good site and the bad site (the site to be recovered) run the same cnDBTier version.
      • The good site runs a lower cnDBTier version. However, the cnDBTier release on both the good site and the bad site supports the same database replication REST API.
    • The script doesn't support georeplication recovery between sites in the following cases:
      • The good site runs a cnDBTier version that is higher than the version on the bad site.
      • The good site runs a lower cnDBTier version and uses a different database replication REST API from the one used by the bad site.
    • The following cnDBTier versions use the old database replication API:
      • cnDBTier versions below 22.4.2
      • cnDBTier version 23.1.0
    • The following cnDBTier versions use the new database replication API:
      • cnDBTier versions greater than or equal to 22.4.2 and less than 23.1.0
      • cnDBTier version greater than or equal to 23.1.1

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier (cnDBTier) 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • REST APIs to Display cnDBTier Data on CNC Console: In this release, cnDBTier provides the following REST APIs to CNC Console:
    • Backup list
    • Database statistic reports
    • Replication heartbeat status
    • On-demand backup

    CNC Console uses these REST APIs to fetch cnDBTier data and display them on the CNC Console GUI. This way, cnDBTier facilitates users to integrate cnDBTier on CNC Console and allows users to perform cnDBTier read operations such as checking the list of completed backups and overall heartbeat status. For more information about the feature and the REST APIs, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier User Guide.

  • Network Policies: With this release, cnDBTier supports network policies to restrict incoming and outgoing network traffic. This ensures security and isolation of cnDBTier services in Kubernetes clusters. For more information about enabling and configuring this feature, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier User Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • Support for New Versions of Software: cnDBTier has updated the following software in this release:
    • Oracle MySQL Cluster Database - 8.0.35
    • Spring Boot - 3.1.5
  • TLS Support for Georeplication: cnDBTier 23.4.0 doesn't support Transport Layer Security (TLS). Therefore, the feature is disabled in this release by default. Follow the updated procedures in the documents to avoid encountering errors while performing any operation. For the updated procedures, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier User Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.

2.5 Cloud Native Configuration Console (CNC Console)

Release 23.4.2

There are no new features or enhancements in this release.

Release 23.4.1

There are no new features or enhancements in this release.

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console (CNC Console) 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Support for cnDBTier: The CNC Console GUI now supports cnDBTier READ operations and enables the cnDBTier Menu for the Console. This feature incorporates authentication and authorization for API and GUI requests, along with the inclusion of metrics, alerts, and KPIs. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console User Guide.
  • Support for OCCM: CNC Console supports Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Certificate Management (OCCM). OCCM is an automated solution for managing the certificates needed for Oracle 5G Network Functions (NFs). As part of CNC Console and OCCM integration, features such as authentication, authorization of API/GUI requests, metrics, alerts, KPIs are now supported. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console User Guide.
  • NF Versions Supported by CNC Console: The following NF versions are supported in this release:
    • SCP - 23.4.x
    • NRF - 23.4.x
    • UDR - 23.4.x
    • POLICY - 23.4.x
    • BSF - 23.4.x
    • SEPP - 23.4.x
    • NSSF - 23.4.x
    • OCNADD - 23.4.x
    • OCNWDAF - 23.4.x
    • PROVGW - 23.4.x

2.6 Cloud Native Environment (CNE)

Note:

The procedure to update OpenStack credentials is revised in the 23.4.6 User Guide. If you are updating OpenStack credentials on other versions of 23.4.x, refer to the latest procedure from 23.4.6 Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment User Guide.

Release 23.4.6

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

Release 23.4.4

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

Release 23.4.1

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment (CNE) 23.4.1 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Upgrade Support from 23.3.x and 23.4.0: CNE 23.4.0 was released as an installation-only version. To overcome this limitation, CNE 23.4.1 is developed to support upgrade from 23.3.x and 23.4.0. While upgrading from 23.3.x, CNE uplifts the version of the following components:
    • Kubernetes control plane is uplifted to 1.27.x
    • Oracle Operating System (OS) on all CNE nodes and Load Balancer Virtual Machines (LBVMs) are uplifted to Oracle Linux 9

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment (CNE) 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Oracle Linux Version Uplift: In this release, Oracle Linux is uplifted from version 8 to version 9.2. As part of this uplift, all the hosts provisioned in CNE are installed with Oracle Linux 9.2 operating system. This includes CNE cluster nodes, LoadBalancer, and Bastion Hosts. Container images that are built as part of CNE development bastion-controller and lb-controller are also built using Oracle Linux 9.2 base image. Third-party container images used in CNE including Oracle OpenSearch and Oracle OpenSearch Dashboard container images are not part of this uplift.

    Note:

    Oracle Linux version uplift has no impact on NF container image versions. NFs can continue to use the same version of image, as the changes made in Oracle Linux are backward compatible with the NF container image versions.
  • New Versions of Common Services: The following common services are upgraded in this release:
    • Helm - 3.12.3
    • Kubernetes - 1.27.5
    • containerd - 1.7.5
    • Calico - 3.25.2
    • MetalLB - 0.13.11
    • Prometheus - 2.44.0
    • Grafana - 9.5.3
    • Jaeger - 1.45.0
    • Istio - 1.18.2
    • Kyverno - 1.9.0
    • cert-manager - 1.12.4
    • Oracle OpenSearch 2.3.0
    • Oracle OpenSearch Dashboard 2.3.0
    • Fluentd - opensearch 1.16.2
    • Velero 1.12.0

    To get the complete list of third-party services and their versions, refer to the dependencies_23.4.0.tgz file provided as part of the software delivery package.

    Note:

    CNE constitutes a number of third-party services. For detailed information, refer to the documents of the respective third-party service.
  • Upgrade Consideration: CNE 23.4.0 is an installation only release and doesn't support upgrade from any previous releases.

Operations Services Overlay (OSO)

Release 23.4.5

Oracle Communications Operations Services Overlay 23.4.5 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • the version of 23_4_common_pod is updated to 23.4.5.
  • OSO roll back is supported to previous versions.

For more information, see Oracle Communications Operations Services Overlay Installation and Upgrade Guide.

Release 23.4.4

Oracle Communications Operations Services Overlay 23.4.4 has been updated with the following enhancements:

Support for new versions:
  • Prometheus version is uplifted from version 0.26.1 to 0.50.1.
  • configmap-reload version is uplifted from v0.8.0 to 0.12.0.
  • nginx/controller is replaced with 23_4_common9_pod:latest.

For more information, see Oracle Communications Operations Services Overlay Installation and Upgrade Guide.

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications Operations Services Overlay 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:

Support for new versions:
  • AlertManager version is uplifted from version 0.25 to 0.26.1.
  • nginx version is uplifted from v1.5.1 to 1.9.4.

For more information, see Oracle Communications Operations Services Overlay Installation and Upgrade Guide.

2.7 Network Exposure Function (NEF)

Release 23.4.4

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

Release 23.4.3

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

Release 23.4.2

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

Release 23.4.1

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

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Exposure Function (NEF) 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:

  • Converged Charging Support in NEF: This feature enables the NEF to invoke its northbound API for charging purposes. This allows NEF to communicate with CHF NF to perform any charging related functionalities. It can be used to gather the necessary data for various management activities, such as credit control, accounting, billing, and statistics. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Exposure Function User Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Exposure Function Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • Support for Update Operation in Monitoring Event: This feature enables NEF to support PUT operation for Monitoring Event Service (3gpp-monitoring-event). For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Exposure Function User Guide.

2.8 Network Repository Function (NRF)

This section explains the features or enhancements performed for Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Functions (NRF).

Release 23.4.4

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

Release 23.4.3

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

Release 23.4.2

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

Release 23.4.1

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Functions (NRF) 23.4.1 has been updated with the following enhancements:

  • Support for Service Level Priority with same Service Names: The Preferred Locality priority handling has been enhanced to support service level priority with the same service names. For service-name based discovery query, NRF updates the profile level priority and service level priority of the NF profile if there are multiple services in the NF profile with the same service name after processing the discovery query. For more information about the feature, see "Preferred Locality" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Functions (NRF) 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Support for Automated Certificate Lifecycle Management: NRF supports automated certificate lifecycle management when integrated with Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Certificate Management (OCCM) in compliance with 3GPP security recommendations. For more information about automated certificate management, see "Support for Automated Certificate Lifecycle Management" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.
  • Support for vsmf-support-ind Attribute in NF Discover Service Operation: NRF supports vsmf-support-ind attribute in the NF Discover service operation query as per the 3GPP standards. For more information about the attribute, see NRF Compliance Matrix.
  • Support for cnDBTier APIs in CNC Console: With this enhancement, cnDBTier APIs are integrated into the CNC Console, and users can view specific cnDBTier statuses on the CNC Console. For more information, see "Support for cnDBTier APIs in CNC Console" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.
  • Routing Egress Messages through SCP: NRF supports routing of the following Egress requests through SCP:
    • SLF requests
    • Notification requests
    • NRF Forwarding requests
    • Roaming requests

    This feature provides the flexibility to independently configure the Egress requests routing either directly or through SCP. For more information about routing messages through SCP, see "Routing Egress Messages Through SCP" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.

  • Enhanced NRF Set Based Deployment (NRF Growth): NRF supports multiple NRF sets deployment in a network to support increased traffic and expand the capacity of the network. Each NRF in a set synchronizes with the most preferred NRF of the other sets to retrieve the state data of that set. Thus, every NRF has the complete segment-level view of all the sets in the specific segment. When the feature is enabled, NRF core microservices fetch the state data of the remote NRF sets from Cache Data Service. For more information about the feature, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.
  • Support for Cache Data Service: A new microservice, Cache Data Service (CDS) is deployed by default. The Cache Data Service (CDS) builds and maintains state data of local and remote NRF sets in its in-memory cache. This state data is read by other NRF core microservices for various service operations. For more information about the CDS, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.
    Installation and Upgrade Considerations:
    • Upon 23.4.0 installation or upgrade, the CDS microservice pod is deployed by default. The NRF core microservices query the CDS for state data information. In case CDS is not available, NRF core microservices fall back to the cnDBTier for service operation.
    • Release 23.3.x microservice pods retrieve the state data from the cnDBTier for processing the service operations.
    • Release 23.4.x microservice pods retrieve queries CDS to retrieve the state data for processing the service operations.
    • In case of in-service upgrade:
      • CDS updates its in-memory cache with state data. The readiness probes of the CDS are configured to succeed only after at least one cache update attempt is performed. The cache is updated with the local NRF set data from the cnDBTier and if the growth feature is enabled the cache is updated with remote NRF set data.
      • During the above-mentioned upgrade scenario, until the nrfCacheData pod is available, the previous and new release pods of other microservices will query the old release pod of the CDS for the state data. This will ensure there are no in-service traffic failures during the upgrade.

2.9 Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF)

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • LCI and OCI Headers: In the 5G architecture, frequent network overload resulting from substantial data exchanges between Producer and Consumer Network Functions (NFs) necessitates load balancing to prevent failures. This feature introduces LCI and OCI Headers in NSSF, collectively offering real-time insights into NSSF resources and enabling efficient traffic management. These headers, by providing load and overload information, not only facilitate optimized traffic distribution but also enable proactive measures to prevent network failures caused by overload scenarios. For more information, see "LCI and OCI Headers" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network slice Selection Function User Guide.
  • Server Header in NSSF: NSSF in 5G handles security aspects and manages requests from various network functions (NFs) and entities via HTTP. When errors occur, consumer NFs need to identify the source of the issue for troubleshooting. This feature adds support for Server Headers in NSSF responses, which is useful in identifying the type and origin of an error. This enhancement improves NSSF’s error handling for better troubleshooting and corrective actions by the consumer NFs. For more information, see "Server Header in NSSF" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network slice Selection Function User Guide.

2.10 Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Certificate Management (OCCM)

Release 23.4.3

There are no new features or enhancements in this release.

Release 23.4.2

There are no new features or enhancements in this release.

Release 23.4.1

There are no new features or enhancements in this release.

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Certificate Management (OCCM) 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • PKI Automation and Certificate Management: Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Certificate Management (OCCM) is an automated solution for managing the certificates needed for Oracle 5G Network Functions (NFs). OCCM constantly monitors and renews the certificates based on their validity or expiry period. OCCM integrates with the Certificate Authority(s) using Certificate Management Protocol Version 2 (CMPv2) and RFC4210 to facilitate these certificate management operations:
    • Operator-initiated certificate creation
    • Operator-initiated certificate recreation
    • Automatic certificate monitoring and renewal
    OCCM supports transport of CMPv2 messages using HTTP-based protocol. OCCM provides the following mechanisms to establish initial trust between OCCM and CA(s):
    • Certificate-based message signing
    • Pre-shared key or MAC based authentication
    All the subsequent CMPv2 procedures are authenticated using the certificate-based mechanism in compliance with 3GPP TS 33.310.

    The keys and X.509 certificates are managed using Kubernetes secrets. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Certificate Management Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Certificate Management User Guide.

  • OCCM Deployment Models: OCCM provides the following deployment models to support certificate management for the integrated NF(s) instantiated within the same cluster:
    • Dedicated deployment model - OCCM resides in the same Kubernetes namespace as the NF or Components.
    • Shared deployment model - OCCM is deployed in a separate Kubernetes namespace and can manage certificates of multiple NFs or components deployed in other Kubernetes namespaces.
    Appropriate permissions must be assigned to OCCM using Kubernetes Service Account, Role, and Role Binding, based on the selected deployment model. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Certificate Management Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • Console support for OCCM Configuration: Console support for OCCM configuration is enabled. OCCM configuration can be performed through Console GUI or by invoking REST API by passing Console Access Token. Following OCCM GUI screens are supported at Console:
    • Issuer Configuration
    • Certificate Configuration
    • Logging Configuration
  • Configure Kubernetes Network Policies: OCCM has implemented the Network policies framework to enable the user to specify how a pod communicates with network entities. It enables OCCM to create pod-level rules needed for OCCM data flows, to manage Ingress and Egress traffic.
  • Support for OCCM Deployment using Continuous Delivery Control Server (CDCS): In addition to OCCM's Command Line Interface (CLI) deployment method, OCCM can be deployed using the Continuous Delivery Control Server (CDCS), which is a centralized server that automates OCCM deployment processes such as downloading the OCCM package, installation, upgrade, and rollback. For more information about CDCS, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, CD Control Server User Guide. For information about OCCM deployment using CDCS, see the "Overview" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Certificate Management Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.

2.11 Policy

Release 23.4.6

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

Release 23.4.5

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy 23.4.5 has been updated with the following enhancement:
  • Support for DNN Exclusion: The communication from SM service with Binding service, Bulwark service, and PDS can be skipped based on the DNN using a few advanced settings configurations, USER.allDataTypes.excludeDnns, BINDING.excludeDnns, and BULWARK.excludeDnns in SM service.

    For more information, see Support for DNN Exclusion section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.

Release 23.4.4

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

Release 23.4.3

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

Release 23.4.2

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

Release 23.4.1

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

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Bulwark Pod Congestion Control: Bulwark, a Policy microservice provides distributed lock mechanism using distributed coherence. The traffic at bulwark service is high as all the consumer services use its distributed lock mechanism to handle concurrent transactions. In the production environment, the bulwark pods must be protected from traffic congestion. Bulwark pod congestion control functionality helps in regulating the traffic and improves its service availability. For more information, see Bulwark Pod Congestion Control section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • PCF UE service with New Error Fields for N1 Message Retransmission: This feature supports UePolicy-Max Number of Re-transmissions to be separately configure for each error type on the GUI. For more information, see UE Policy Enhancements section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Support of Policy evaluation on AMF Notification on N1Notify and N1N2NotifyFailure: This feature supports PCF to evaluate Policies and take actions when PCF receives notification such as N1Notify with "command complete" or "command reject" or N1N2Transfer failure notification messages from AMF. For more information, see UE Policy Enhancements section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Support of Policy Action to send the Notify Terminate for AM/UE Service: This feature supports PCF to initiate Policy association termination toward core services (AM/SM/UE) because of notifications coming from UDR or CHF or due to updates coming from AMF/SMF. The initiation of Policy association termination is based on policy evaluation by PRE and policy action that is configured. For more information, see Support of Policy Action to Send the Notify Terminate section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Diameter Session Retry: This feature is enhanced to support following multiple configurations in CNC Console to handle session retries on Rx interface:
    • Number of session retries configuration
    • Error handling based on error origination peer configurations.

    For more information, see Diameter Session Retry section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.

  • Supports UDR Discovery using Group Id: This feature enables PCF to perform UDR discovery using query parameter "group-id-list" during SM, AM, and UE Policy associations. PCF receives the UDR group id from AMF/SMF services as part of its header requests. From this header, PCF extracts the UDR group id and uses it to discover UDR. With this feature implementation the number of discovery requests to NRF for the same UDR is reduced. For more information, see Supports UDR Discovery using Group Id section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • RAA Error Code Handling: This feature helps in error handling at SM and PA service where on receipt of error response from Diameter Connector for initiated update-notify or RAR message the operator should be able to take corrective actions. For more details, see "RAA Error Code Handling" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Support of SUPI-based NRF Discovery Optimization and Response Caching from UDR: This feature helps in optimizing SUPI based NRF discoveries between the query and subscription (GET and POST) of the policy data request towards UDR. It is applicable only for SUPI based discovery queries towards UDR. For more details, see "Support of SUPI-based NRF Discovery Optimization and Response Caching from UDR" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • PCF must STOP sending Update Notify on N7 when PCC Rule has Flow Status set to 'REMOVED': CNC Policy is enhanced to support SM create when it contains flow status set as 'removed' for any of the media components. For more details, see "Support for Resource Allocation for PCC Rules" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Migration from opentracing to OpenTelemetry: OpenTelemetry automatic instrumentation has been implemented to show similar traces as Open Tracing in Jaeger UI. For more details, see "Tracing Configurations" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
    • Preupgrade consideration: When upgrading from 23.2.0 to 23.4.0, certain scenarios needs to be considered. For more information, see "Preupgrade Tasks" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • Support for Non-SUPI based On Demand Discovery Caching of NF Profiles: Policy supports caching the NF profiles at NRF Client received from non-SUPI based on-demand discovery from NRF. Caching the NF profiles avoids rediscovering the NF profiles from NRF for every new call flow related to AMF, SMF(Notification) and UDR. For more information, see "Support for Non-SUPI based On Demand Discovery Caching of NF Profiles" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Enhancements to discard policy for diameter sessions: Discard policy for diameter sessions is enhanced with options to discard sessions based on priority and priority percentage. For more information, see "Load Shedding Profiles" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Support for flexible billing day change: Usage Monitoring on Gx interface supports changing the billing cycle of the active plan from monthly to yearly, weekly, daily, or hourly and the effect is based on the configured flexible billing day. For more information, see "Usage Monitoring on Gx interface" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Pro-Rating of monthly quota: Usage monitoring on Gx interface supports pro-rating of the quota volume when the billing cycle is changed. For more information, see "Usage Monitoring on Gx interface" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Usage monitoring support at PCC rule level: Policy supports Usage monitoring at either at PCC rule level or at session level. With this feature, usage monitoring can be requested on an individual rule (PCC rule level) or on all the rules activated during a IP-CAN session (session level). For more information, see "Usage Monitoring on Gx interface" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Data Compression in Usage Monitoring: In order to handle the growing size of the Usage Monitoring database and the replication volume, Policy supports compressing the Usage Monitoring data. For more information, see "Usage Monitoring on Gx interface" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Migration of subscribers from OCPM to PCRF deployment: Policy supports migrating the subscribers from OCPM deployment to CnPolicy deployment model. The migration includes the quota data as well as the dynamic quota data. For more information, see "Migration of subscribers from OCPM to PCRF deployment" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Enhanced Policy Blockly support for UE Policy service conditions and actions: New blocks are added to support UE Policy service conditions and actions. These new blocks enables to find the delta between the UPSI's id list and UPSI's currently configured in PCF, UPSI's that are sent on UE Policy registration and UPSI's that are on UDR. For more information on the enhancements see "Support for Listing and Comparing UPSIs Received from UDR" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide. For details on the UE Policy blocks, actions, and conditions used for this functionality, see "UE Policy" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy Design Guide.
  • Support for Network Policies: Network Policies are an application-centric construct that allows to specify how a pod communicates with various network entities. It creates pod-level rules to control communication between the cluster's pods and services, and to determine which pods and services can access one another inside a cluster. For more information, see "Network Policies" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Handling Race Condition Between Gx and Sy Sessions over two sites: Policy supports handling race condition between Gx and Sy sessions over two sites that result in Sy stale sessionsin PDS. For more information, see "Handling Race Condition Between Gx and Sy Sessions over two sites" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Improvements to exception table maintenance: Audit service is used to clean up exception tables for Binding service, AM service, SM service, UE Policy service, PCRF Core and PDS. The Audit service configuration for cleaning up these exception tables are predefined using Helm parameters at the time of installation with a default 24hr frequency for auditing. For more information, see "Audit Service" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • ATS Feature Activation and Deactivation: This feature allows to activate or deactivate the specific features within the ATS using Helm charts. Once these features are removed, they cannot be reinstated in the deployed ATS. However, users have the option to reinstall the ATS to restore the disabled features. For more information about the feature, see "ATS Feature Activation and Deactivation" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Testing Suite Guide.

2.12 Service Communication Proxy (SCP)

Release 23.4.3

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

Release 23.4.2

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

Release 23.4.1

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy (SCP) 23.4.1 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • NFProfile Processing Enhancements: With this enhancement, whenever SCP receives a notification regarding an NF profile that includes 3GPP-defined supported NF services, custom, unknown, or unsupported NF services, SCP ignores the presence of custom, unknown, or unsupported NF services within the NF profile. Routing rules are generated by SCP for 3GPP-defined supported NF services that are present in the NF profile. Consequently, SCP enhanced the process of handling NF profiles by streamlining the routing process and ensuring efficient and reliable communication between NFs. For more information, see "NFProfile Processing Enhancements" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Message Feed Enhancements: SCP is enhanced to select Kafka partitions based on the kafkaPartitionSelectionLogic REST API configuration to distribute the messages to the same or different partitions in a Kafka broker. For more information, see "Message Feed Enhancements" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy (SCP) 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • NRF Configuration Using DNS SRV Resolution: Currently, SCP supports the static configuration (helm configuration) of NRF profiles from the custom-values.yaml file and uses them for registration, subscription, discovery, and audit. With the introduction of this feature, SCP supports the RESTful configuration of the NRF Service (SRV) FQDN at SCP. A user can configure primary (mandatory), secondary, and tertiary NRFs based on their priority and weights from different regions in the DNS server against an NRF SRV FQDN. For more information, see "NRF Configuration Using DNS SRV Resolution" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Support for cnDBTier APIs in CNC Console: With this enhancement, cnDBTier APIs are integrated into the CNC Console, and users can view specific cnDBTier statuses on the CNC Console. For more information, see "Support for cnDBTier APIs in CNC Console" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • SCP Response Timeout Extension: SCP allows users to set a maximum response timeout of up to 15 seconds for all the services supported by the SCP for improved service reliability and responsiveness. For more information, see "SCP Response Timeout Extension" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Custom Header Support at SCP: With the introduction of this feature, efficiency is enhanced across the converged networks and optimized for 5G core traffic. For more information, see "Custom Header Support at SCP" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Mediation Rule Configuration Enhancement: This enhancement enables SCP to manage mediation rules in the database by retrieving, adding, and modifying them through the CNCC Console and Restful API. For more information, see "Mediation Rule Configuration Enhancement" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Support for Automated Certificate Lifecycle Management: This feature allows you to integrate SCP with Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Certificate Management (OCCM) to support automation of certificate lifecycle management. You can now monitor, create, recreate, and renew TLS certificates based on their validity. For more information, see "Support for Automated Certificate Lifecycle Management" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Overload Control Based on the Overload Control Information (OCI) Header: When SCP, SEPP, consumer NF, or producer NF is overloaded, it sends overload condition information through the 3gpp-Sbi-Oci header, which is tagged along with the messages, to peer NFs. For more information, see "Overload Control Based on the Overload Control Information Header" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Load Balancing Support for Delegated Discovery: This enhancement allows user to change the preferred NRF instance ID or NRF Set ID for delegated discovery at runtime using the REST API. For more information, see "Support for Model D Indirect 5G SBI Communication with Delegated Discovery" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.

2.13 Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP)

Release 23.4.2

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

Release 23.4.1

SEPP 23.4.1 is a Critical Patch Update. Critical Patch Updates provide security patches for supported Oracle on-premises products. They are available to customers with valid support contracts.

For more information, see Critical Patch Updates, Security Alerts, and Bulletins.

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP) 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:

  • Load Sharing among Multiple Remote SEPP Nodes: With load sharing among multiple Remote SEPP nodes feature, SEPP can now efficiently distribute incoming traffic among multiple remote SEPPs. To enable this, the operator needs to configure a single virtual FQDN for the remote SEPPs. SEPP retrieves multiple Remote SEPP records from the DNS server and distributes the traffic according to the priority and weight associated with each record. Hence, SEPP can simultaneously route the incoming requests to multiple Remote SEPPs. For more information about the feature, see the "Load Sharing among Multiple Remote SEPP Nodes" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy User Guide and the "Remote SEPP" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy REST API Specification Guide.
  • Separate Port Configurations for N32c and N32f on the Egress Routes: In some deployments, there is a need to have different service IPs and ports for n32c and n32f interfaces although the endpoint SEPP may have the same name. To improve traffic segregation, the Egress Gateway is enhanced by configuring different ports for the n32c and n32f connections on both the Remote SEPP Set and its local configurations. Separate ports for n32c and n32f interfaces provide the flexibility to configure different IP addresses or ports for both interfaces. For more information about the feature, see the "Separate Port Configurations for N32c and N32f on the Egress Routes" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy User Guide and the "Remote SEPP" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy REST API Specification Guide.
  • Support for cnDBTier APIs in CNC Console: With the implementation of this feature, cnDBTier APIs are integrated into the CNC Console. SEPP users can view specific cnDBTier APIs such as checking the cnDBTier version, status of cnDBTier clusters, and georeplication status on the CNC Console. The cnDBTier APIs can be viewed (read-only) from the CNC Console. For more information about the feature, see the "Support for cnDBTier APIs in CNC Console" and "cnDBTier" sections in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy User Guide.
  • Mediation Rules using CNC Console and REST APIs: With this feature enhancement, mediation rules are being stored in the database. The existing rules can be retrieved, modified, deleted, and new rules can be configured and applied to mediation microservice using the CNC Console or REST APIs. For more information about the feature, see the "5G SBI Message Mediation Support" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy User Guide and the "Mediation Rules Configuration" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy REST API Specification Guide.
  • ATS Feature Activation and Deactivation: This feature allows to activate or deactivate the specific features within the ATS using Helm charts. Once these features are removed, they cannot be reinstated in the deployed ATS. However, users have the option to reinstall the ATS to restore the disabled features. For more information about the feature, see "ATS Feature Activation and Deactivation" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Testing Suite Guide.
  • Support for Transport Layer Security in ATS: With the support of the TLS feature, Jenkins servers have been upgraded to support HTTPS, ensuring a secure and encrypted connection when accessing the ATS dashboard. To provide encryption, HTTPS uses an encryption protocol known as Transport Layer Security (TLS), which is a widely accepted standard protocol that provides authentication, privacy, and data integrity between two communicating computer applications. For more information about the feature, see "Support for Transport Layer Security" and "Installing SEPP" sections in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Testing Suite Guide.
  • Individual Stage Group Selection: This feature allows users to select and run single or multiple stages or groups by selecting a check box for the corresponding stage or group. For more information, see "Individual Stage Group Selection" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Test Suite Guide.

2.14 Unified Data Repository (UDR)

Release 23.4.2

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository (UDR) 23.4.2 has been updated with the following enhancements:

  • Suppress Notification: This feature enables cnUDR to store the User-Agent header received in the POST request from cnPCRF in the subscription table. cnUDR compares the User-Agent header received during an update operation from cnPCRF with the stored User-Agent header. If the User-Agent header match, then the notification is suppressed. The notification is sent if the User-Agent header do not match or if the there is no User-Agent header in the update request. For more information about the feature, see "Suppress Notification" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide.

Release 23.4.1

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

Release 23.4.0

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository (UDR) 23.4.0 has been updated with the following enhancements:
  • Migration Tool Support for Converged Quota: The migration tool is enhanced to support converged quota and it also supports monitoring and pausing the migration tool using REST API and CNC Console. For more information about the feature, see "Converged Quota Support for UDR" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide.
  • Support for EXML Format: This feature allows to export the subscriber data in EXML format, which is compatible with 4G OCUDR export format. It supports the export of 4G policy data (VSA and umData/umDataLimits) in EXML format from 5G UDR to 4G OCUDR using the subscriber export tool. For more information about the feature, see "Support for EXML Format" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide.
  • User Equipment Optimization support for Equipment Identity Register (EIR): As per 3GPP standards, all User Equipment (UE) in the operator's network is declared within the EIR database as Whitelisted, Greylisted, or Blacklisted. The UEs that are not declared in the EIR database are categorized Blacklisted by default. As all UE Permanent Equipment Identifier (PEI) and International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) cannot be provisioned in EIR database, this feature allows the operators to configure a default response for unknown UE. For more information about the feature, see "User Equipment Optimization support in EIR" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide.
  • Provisioning Gateway Network Layout Changes: This feature enhances the provisioning system to support the provisioning in active-active mode. Each provisioning system instance has its own preferred Provisioning Gateway to ensure that the traffic is distributed to all the Provisioning Gateway instances. For more information about the feature, see "Provisioning Gateway Network Layout Changes" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Provisioning Gateway Guide.
  • Support for cnDBTier APIs in CNC Console: UDR supports to view certain cnDBTier APIs from CNC Console when the cnDBTier APIs are integrated into the CNC Console. For more information about integration of cnDBTier APIs in CNC Console, see "Support for cnDBTier APIs in CNC Console" in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide.
  • ATS Parallel Test Execution: This feature allows you to perform multiple logically grouped ATS tests simultaneously on the same System Under Test (SUT) to reduce the overall execution time of ATS. For more information about the feature, see "Parallel Test Execution" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Testing Suite Guide.