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 3.25.1.2xx.0.

Note:

CCNC-XXXX is an internal identification number of the feature.

2.1 Automated Testing Suite (ATS) Framework

Release 25.1.200

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Testing Suite (ATS) Framework 25.1.200 includes the following enhancements:

  • ATS Helm Enhancements: This enhancement automates preinstallation and postinstallation steps of ATS deployment by eliminating the manual method.

  • Trace Validation Enhancements: The trace validation framework has been enhanced to incorporate configurable retry mechanisms, support duration validation for checking the execution time of microservices, and apply filters to any microservice within a sequence.
The following table lists the license names for feature mapping. For additional licensing information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Licensing Information User Manual.

Table 2-1 License names for feature mapping

License Name CCNC Number Feature Name
Oracle Communications CSloud Native Core, Automated Test Tools and Scripts Suite - Node Perpetual CCNC-9803 ATS Helm Enhancements
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Test Tools and Scripts Suite - Node Perpetual CCNC-9801 Trace Validation Enhancements

2.2 Binding Support Function (BSF)

Release 25.1.200

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function (BSF) 25.1.200 includes the following enhancements:
  • Stale Binding Deletion Logging Enhancement: BSF logs have been enhanced for stale session detection and removal by the audit service. You can now configure logs to be generated at either WARN or INFO level. For more information, see the "Enhanced Logging of BSF Stale Binding Deletion" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function User Guide.
  • Support for ASM 1.21.6: BSF 25.1.200 supports Aspen Service Mesh (ASM) 1.21.6 version on Kubernetes 1.27 version from this release. For more information, see the "Configuring BSF to Support Aspen Service Mesh" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • Support for four site Georedundancy: BSF supports four site georedundancy. For more information about this feature, see the "Georedundance Support" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function User Guide.
  • Support for Dual Stack: Using the dual stack mechanism, BSF communicates within services or deployments in a Kubernetes cluster using IPv4 or IPv6 or both simultaneously depending on the configured deployment mode. For more information about this feature, see the "Support for Dual Stack" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function User Guide.
  • Pod Congestion Control for BSF Management Service: The BSF Management service uses Pod Congestion Control to manage heavy incoming request traffic. It evaluates each request, accepting or rejecting it based on request priority and current congestion levels. For more information, see the "Pod Congestion Control for BSF Management Service" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function User Guide.
  • Diameter Gateway Pod Congestion Control: The Diameter Gateway Pod Congestion Control feature is modified to work with common Congestion Control mechanism. The user needs to migrate data from the older configuration parameters to the current Congestion Control feature. For more information about the data migration, see the "Diameter Pod Congestion Control "section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function User Guide.

The following table lists the license names for feature mapping. For additional licensing information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Licensing Information User Manual.

Table 2-2 License names for feature mapping

License Name CCNC Number Feature Name
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-8862 Stale Binding Deletion Logging Enhancement
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-9617 Support for ASM 1.21.6
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Binding Support Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-3925 Support for four site Georedundancy
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Advance Networking - 25K Active Subscribers CCNC-10085 Support for Dual Stack

2.3 Cloud Native Environment (CNE)

Release 25.1.200

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment (CNE) 25.1.200 includes the following enhancements:
  • Support for Sensitive data storage: When installing or upgrading Cloud Native Environment (CNE), you must provide a secrets.ini file containing values for variables classified as sensitive.
    For more information, see the following sections in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide:
    • Deploying CNE Cluster in OpenStack Environment
    • Predeployment Configuration for VMware
    • Configuring secrets.ini and occne.ini files
    • Environmental Variables
  • Customizing GRUB password: GRUB password can be customized to do maintenance tasks on the boot process for every host of a cluster. Add or modify the occne_grub_password variable in the hosts.ini or occne.ini file according to your cluster. This is a mandatory parameter required to be configured during install or upgrade.
    Set the value of the occne_grub_password variable to the required password. Before setting a password, ensure that the password you choose comply to the following conditions:
    • Contain at least eight characters.
    • Contain uppercase and lowercase characters.
    • Contain at least special character except single and double quotes, ", ', \, %, &, and $.
    • Contain at least two digits.

    For more information, see the "Configuring GRUB Password" section in 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 - 3.17.1
    • Kubernetes - 1.32.0
    • containerd - 1.7.24
    • Calico - 3.29.1
    • MetalLB - 0.14.4
    • Prometheus - 3.2.0
    • Grafana - 9.5.3
    • Jaeger - 1.65.0
    • Istio - 1.18.2
    • Kyverno - 1.13.4
    • cert-manager - 1.12.4
    To get the complete list of third-party services and their versions, refer to the dependencies_25.1.200.tgz file provided as part of the software delivery package.

    Note:

    CNE constitutes a number of third-party services. For information about these third-party services, refer to the documents of the respective third-party services.

Operations Services Overlay (OSO)

Release 25.1.200

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Operations Services Overlay (OSO) 25.1.200 includes the following enhancement:
  • Alert Automation: With this feature, OSO supports other NFs to install and update alert configurations using the Helm chart. For more information about the feature, see the "Alert Automation" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Operations Services Overlay User Guide.

    For detailed instructions on configuring this feature, see the "Automated Configuration of NF Alerts" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Operations Services Overlay Installation and Upgrade Guide.

The following table lists the license names for feature mapping. For additional licensing information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Licensing Information User Manual.

Table 2-3 License names for feature mapping

License Name CCNC Number Feature Name
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Cloud Native Environment - per 25K Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-9086 Alert Automation

2.4 Cloud Native Core cnDBTier

Release 25.1.201

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

Release 25.1.200

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier (cnDBTier) 25.1.200 includes the following enhancements:

  • Support for cnDBTier Backup Status APIs in CNC Console: With this enhancement, cnDBTier NDB Backup status can be viewed on CNCC Console GUI. NF applications can check if the NDB cluster is performing a backup. This helps to prevent NF schema changes that may cause upgrade failures using the new screen. Additionally, a new API is added for this enhancement.

    For more information on the Backup Status API, see the "cnDBTier APIs" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier User Guide.

  • cnDBTier Metrics reorganization: In the earlier implementation, metrics collection followed a centralized model where all metrics were gathered solely through the monitoring service. While functional, this approach led to performance bottlenecks. The monitoring service became heavily loaded, resulting in slow metrics retrieval and, at times, resource spillage in terms of CPU and memory consumption. To address these issues, the metrics collection process has been distributed. Wherever feasible, metrics are now offloaded to the respective microservices. This decentralization reduces the load on the central monitor service, significantly improving the efficiency and speed of metrics retrieval.

    As part of this new design, the infrastructure monitor component has been embedded as a permanent container within each relevant microservice. While this increases the overall resource footprint, it ensures a more scalable, responsive, and resilient monitoring framework.

    Note:

    With multiple distributed endpoints now serving metrics, Prometheus must be appropriately scaled/resourced to handle the increased load and maintain scraping efficiency.

    For more information on cnDBTier Metrics, see the "Metrics" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier User Guide.

  • Support for ASM 1.21.6: cnDBTier 25.1.200 supports Aspen Service Mesh (ASM) 1.21.6 version on Kubernetes 1.27 version from this release.

  • Support for HTTPS communication: The initial HTTPS implementation in cnDBTier lacked support for transitioning between HTTPS-disabled and HTTPS-enabled states. It also did not provide HTTPS functionality for CNLB. These limitations resulted in incomplete HTTPS support across different deployment scenarios. The current implementation addresses these limitations by providing comprehensive HTTPS support throughout cnDBTier. Enhancements include:
    • Seamless transition between HTTPS enabled and disabled states
    • Robust handling of HTTPS across all relevant components, including CNLB
    • Consistent and reliable secure communication in all configurations

    This update guarantees end-to-end HTTPS functionality, improving security and system consistency in various deployment scenarios. For more information about this feature enhancement, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier User Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native.

  • Support for Dual Stack: cnDBTier supports deployment on dual stack Kubernetes infrastructure, enabling communication over both IPv4 and IPv6. Using the dual stack mechanism, cnDBTier can establish and accept connections within pods and services using either IP family and interact seamlessly with external systems that support IPv4 and IPv6. In this setup, cnDBTier can use IPv4 or IPv6 for internal communication between its microservices, while external communication can be independently configured to use IP family. Additionally, the preferred IP family can be changed dynamically after deployment, providing enhanced flexibility in managing network configurations. For more information about this feature enhancement, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier User Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.

  • cnDBTier Helm (MOP) Enhancements: Starting with version 25.1.200, cnDBTier supports the automated creation of service accounts, roles, and role bindings. While this functionality was available in older versions, the latest release introduces validation for manually created service accounts. Helm charts now verify whether a manually created service account has the required permissions.
    The configuration has also been restructured to support different service accounts, including:
    • Upgrade service account
    • Application service account
    • Multus service account

    For detailed configuration instructions, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, cnDBTier Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.

The following table lists the license names for feature mapping. For additional licensing information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Licensing Information User Manual.

Table 2-4 License names for feature mapping

License Name CCNC Number Feature Name
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Policy Control Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-9368 Support for ASM 1.21.6
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Lifecycle Management - 25K Active Subscribers CCNC-9100 cnDBTier Helm (MOP) Enhancements
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Advance Networking - 25K Active Subscribers CCNC-8894 Support for Dual Stack

2.5 Cloud Native Configuration Console (CNC Console)

Release 25.1.200

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console (CNC Console) 25.1.200 includes the following enhancements:

  • Lifecycle Management (LCM) Automation: Lifecycle Management (LCM) Automation optimizes the deployment and upgrade processes for CNC Console by reducing the steps required to initiate. The following automation enhancements are supported in this release:
    • Helm Enhancements for Service Account: An automated resource creation has been introduced to streamline Kubernetes resource management through Helm charts.
    • Helm Enhancements for NF Alert Configurations on OSO: CNC Console leverages the oso-alr-config Helm chart, introduced in the OSO package, to apply alert rules through Helm upgrades. While the oso-alr-config Helm chart is deployed automatically during the OSO installation, the CNC Console performs Helm upgrades to apply or update the required alert rules. Both manual and automated configurations are 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.
  • Support for ASM 1.21.6: CNC Console now supports Aspen Service Mesh (ASM) version 1.21.6. For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Configuration Console Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.

The following table lists the license names for feature mapping. For additional licensing information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Licensing Information User Manual.

Table 2-5 License names for feature mapping

License Name CCNC Number Feature Name
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Lifecycle Management - 25K Active Subscribers CCNC-9092 Lifecycle Management (LCM) Automation
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Advanced Cloud Native Environment – 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CNCC-8616 Support for ASM 1.21.6

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

Release 25.1.200

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Certificate Management (OCCM) 25.1.200 includes the following enhancement:

  • Updating Certificate Configurations: This feature enables updating essential fields in the certificate configuration. Based on changes to the end-entity certificate configuration, OCCM automatically recreates the certificate or applies updates during future renewals.

    For more information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Certificate Management User Guide.

The following table lists the license names for feature mapping. For additional licensing information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Licensing Information User Manual.

Table 2-6 License names for feature mapping

License Name CCNC Number Feature Name
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Certificate Management - 25K Active Subscribers CNCC-8148 Updating Certificate Configurations

2.7 Network Repository Function (NRF)

Release 25.1.200

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function (NRF) 25.1.200 includes the following enhancements:
  • Ingress Gateway Pod Protection Using Rate Limiting: This feature applies a rate limiting mechanism to Ingress Gateway pods, allowing them to process a predefined number of requests. When the request rate exceeds the configured threshold, the pods protect themselves by either rejecting additional requests with a custom error code or allowing them, based on the configuration.

    For more information about this feature, see the "Ingress Gateway Pod Protection Using Rate Limiting" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.

  • Writing Messages of the Same Transaction in the Same Kafka Partition: This feature ensures that NRF copies request and response messages of the same transaction to the same Kafka partition when sending messages to Data Director. This reduces latency in processing transaction data. The feature uses the correlation-id (a unique identifier) as the message key to correlate messages for a transaction.

    For more information about this feature, see the "NRF Message Feed" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.

  • NRF Message Feed Enhancements: The following additional message attributes are included in the metadata list, along with existing attributes:
    • source-ip
    • destination-ip
    • source-port
    • pod-instance-id
    • destination-port

    For more information about this feature, see the "NRF Message Feed" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.

  • NF Profile Size Limit: This feature allows to specify the maximum limit of the NF Profile size that can be registered with NRF. The NF Profile size is evaluated during the NfRegister or NfUpdate service operation, and if the profile size is within the configured maximum limit, the service operation is allowed. If the profile size breaches the configured thresholds, the service operation gets rejected.

    For more information about this feature, see the "NF Profile Size Limit" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.

  • Pod Level Traffic Rejections (Overload Control Enhancements): With this enhancement, NRF rejects the incoming requests at pod level for percentage-based overload control by removing the dependency on cache-based coordination across pods. When the overload control level is breached, the number of requests to be rejected is calculated based on the requests received at each Ingress Gateway pod. This ensures a more accurate and consistent request rejection even in scenarios with low Transactions Per Second (TPS) and uneven traffic distribution.

    For more information about this feature, see the "Pod Level Traffic Rejections" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.

  • Support for cnDBTier Backup Status APIs in CNC Console: With this enhancement, cnDBTier backup status APIs are integrated into the CNC Console. Users can view cnDBTier backup status APIs, such as the current timestamp, backup in progress, and next scheduled backup on CNC Console.

    For more information, see the "Support for cnDBTier APIs in CNC Console" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function User Guide.

The following table lists the license names for feature mapping. For additional licensing information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Licensing Information User Manual.

License Name CCNC Number Feature Name
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-5363 NRF Message Feed Enhancements
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-6080 Writing Messages of the Same Transaction in the Same Kafka Partition
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Repository Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-9424 Ingress Gateway Pod Protection Using Rate Limiting

2.8 Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF)

Release 25.1.200

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) 25.1.200 includes the following enhancements:
  • Support for Automated Certificate Lifecycle Management: NSSF now supports integration with Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Certificate Management (OCCM) to enable automated TLS certificate lifecycle management. This integration simplifies the secure communication setup by automating the issuance, renewal, and management of certificates used for establishing TLS connections between network functions (NFs).

    For more information, see the "Support for Automated Certificate Lifecycle Management" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Slice Selection Function User Guide.

The following table lists the license names for feature mapping. For additional licensing information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Licensing Information User Manual.

Table 2-7 License names for feature mapping

License Name CCNC Number Feature Name
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Network Slice Selection Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-3632 Support for Automated Certificate Lifecycle Management

2.9 OCI Adaptor

Release 25.1.200

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, OCI Adaptor 25.1.200 includes the following enhancement:
  • Uplifted the OCI Adaptor Components: The following OCI Adaptor components have been uplifted:
    • Management-agent is uplifted from 1.5.0 to 1.7.0.
    • Fluentd is uplifted from 1.5.0 to 1.6.0.
    • OTEL Collector is uplifted from 0.108.0 to 0.124.0.

2.10 Policy

Release 25.1.200

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy 25.1.200 includes the following enhancements:
  • Supports Reattempt after Back-off during N1N2 Communication: PCF supports multiple N1N2 Communication attempts after backoff that would help in successful delivery of URSP rules to UE. For more information, see the "Support Backoff during N1N2 Communication" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Support for ASM 1.21.6: Policy 25.1.200 supports Aspen Service Mesh (ASM) 1.21.6 version on Kubernetes 1.27 version from this release. For more information, see the "Configuring Policy to Support Aspen Service Mesh" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Policy Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • Support for Dual Stack: Using the dual stack mechanism, Policy communicates within services or deployments in a Kubernetes cluster using IPv4 or IPv6 or both simultaneously depending on the configured deployment mode. For more information about this feature, see the "Support for Dual Stack" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Support for NR vs EUTRA KPIs for N7 Interface: PCF application differentiate between NSA and SA call flows and provides KPI for N7 interface to differentiate between the NR and EUTRA radio access technology in the SM Service. The KPIs is visualized in Grafana dashboard. For more information, see the "Support for NR vs EUTRA KPIs for N7 Interface" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Pod protection by rate limiting at Ingress Gateway: Policy supports configuring Rate Limiting for Ingress Gateway service in order to provide pod protection by throttling inbound requests, that exceeds the configured rate. For more information, see "Pod Protection at Ingress Gateway" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Supports Traffic Detection on SMF-N7 and TDF using Sd Interface: PCF supports the Sd interface on Session Management Function (SMF)-N7 that enables it to communicate with the Traffic Detection Function (TDF). This interface allows PCF to provide Application Detection and Control (ADC) rules for traffic detection and enforcement at the TDF through Solicited Application Reporting. For more information, see the "Supports Traffic Detection on SMF-N7 and TDF using Sd Interface" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.

    Important:

    Custom support for traffic detection on SMF-N7 and TDF using the Sd interface is an experimental feature. It is subject to change and is not supported for production use (lab use only).

  • Modifying PCF Capacity parameters Through CNC Console: This feature is updated to modify the capacity parameter of the PCF instance and Service instance in the NFProfile for PCF registration profile through CNC Console. For more information, see the "Integrating Policy with Different Network Functions" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Handling VoLTE Race Conditions Between AAR and STR Messages: Policy now handles concurrency or collisions between Authorization Authentication Request (AAR-I/AAR-U) and Session Termination Request (STR) messages. It also addresses race conditions arising from Update Notify triggers due to AAR-I/AAR-U and STR for removing PCC rules. For more information, see the "Handling Collision Between AAR and STR Messages During Update Notify Timeout" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Handling of Multiple N1 N2 Transfer Messages: If PCF receives more than one trigger while an N1N12 transfer is in progress and this feature is enabled, then it consolidates and stores the User Equipment Policy Set Identifiers (UPSIs) with UE Route Selection Policy (URSP) rules that needs to be transferred to UE. Once the UE notification is received for the in-progress N1N2 transfer, a final consolidation is performed. The consolidated UE policy actions are then sent to the UE in a single N1N2 transfer, assuming no fragmentation is required. Once the UE notification is received for the in-progress N1N2 transfer, final consolidation is performed and the consolidated UE policy actions are sent out to UE in a single (assuming no fragmentation is required) N1N2 transfer. For more information about this feature, see the "Handling of Multiple N1N2Transfer Messages" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Stale Binding Detection Audit, Report, and Recover: Service disruptions caused by network storms, system overload, database latency, or other events can impact signaling between Policy and the Binding Support Function (BSF), affecting session bindings. Policy validates binding association records in its database for associated PDU sessions and checks if the binding association exists in BSF. If the binding association is missing in BSF, Policy initiates binding association registration with BSF and restores the session. For more information, see the "Stale Binding Detection Audit, Report and Recover" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Support for Reduced Capability UEs in SM-Rx Flows: For voice and video calls by reduced capability devices on Voice over Long-Term Evolution (VoLTE) and Voice over New Radio (VoNR), Policy supports NR_REDCAP value for RAT Type over Rx interface. For more information, see the "Support for Handling Requests From Reduced Capability Devices" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.

  • LDAP Timeout and Retry Mechanism: With this feature, Policy supports retry functionality towards external LDAP server. The operator must first enable the Retry Enabled flag to use this functionality. Then, the operator can configure the Max number of retries and Retries on errors/timeout to configure the multiple error codes including the error code for LDAP timeout (85). For more information about this feature, see the "LDAP Timeout and Retry Mechanism" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.

  • PCF support to not send ASR while Notify-Update fails: This feature enables PCF to terminate a Policy Authorization/Rx session when it fails to update the required PCC (Policy and Charging Control) and session rules to the Session Management Function (SMF) for an Rx session of a PDU session. This lets the voice data packets or any other media type configured by user to be carried over default IMS QOS flow. For more information about this feature, see the "PCF support to not send ASR while Notify-Update fails" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Stale Requests Cleanup for Binding service: Policy supports identifying and removing stale requests from SM service or PCRF Core to Binding service. Binding service stops further processing of such stale requests and responses and sends a 504 (Gateway Timeout) error to SM service or PCRF Core. For more information, see the "Support for Stale Requests Cleanup" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Stale Requests Cleanup for Diameter Connector: Policy supports identifying and removing stale requests from Policy microservices such as SM service or PCRF Core to Diameter Connector. Diameter Connector stops further processing of such stale requests and responses and sends a 504 (Gateway Timeout) or 5454 error response SM service or PCRF Core. For more information, see the "Support for Stale Requests Cleanup" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Stale Requests Cleanup for User Service (CHF Connector or UDR Connector): Policy supports identifying and removing stale requests from PDS to User Service (UDR Connector or CHF Connector). User Service (UDR Connector or CHF Connector) stops further processing of such stale requests and responses and sends a 504 (Gateway Timeout response to PDS. For more information, see the "Support for Stale Requests Cleanup" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Stale Requests Cleanup for UE Policy service: Policy supports identifying and removing stale requests from Ingress Gateway, PDS, PRE, or Bulwark service to UE Policy service. UE Policy service stops further processing of such stale requests and responses and sends a 504 (Gateway Timeout) error to Ingress Gateway, PDS, PRE, or Bulwark service. For more information, see the "Support for Stale Requests Cleanup" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Congestion Control Resource Usage Calculation Using EMA Algorithm: The Congestion Control mechanism supports the Exponential Moving Average (EMA) algorithm for resource usage calculations. This algorithm calculates congestion resource usage by giving more weight to recent usage data, providing a more accurate representation of current resource utilization compared to a simple average across all data points. For more information, see the "Congestion Control Resource Usage Calculation Using EMA Algorithm" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Support for Pod Congestion Control: Starting with Release 25.1.200, Policy now supports Pod Congestion Control across multiple services to manage heavy incoming request traffic. This mechanism evaluates each incoming request and decides whether to accept or reject it based on predefined request priority and the current congestion level of the service.
    • User Service Pod Congestion Control: The User service supports Pod Congestion Control to manage high volumes of incoming requests. For more information, see the "User Service Pod Congestion Control" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
    • Diameter Connector Pod Congestion Control: The Diameter Connector service supports Pod Congestion Control to manage high volumes of incoming requests. For more information, see the "Diameter Connector Pod Congestion Control" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
    • Diameter Gateway Pod Congestion Control: The Diameter Gateway service supports Pod Congestion Control to manage high volumes of incoming requests. This feature has been updated to align with the common Congestion Control mechanism. Users must migrate data from the older configuration parameters to the current common Congestion Control feature. For more information about the data migration, see the "Diameter Pod Congestion Control" and "Congestion Control settings" sections in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
    • AM Service Pod Congestion Control: The AM service supports Pod Congestion Control to manage high volumes of incoming requests For more information, see the "AM Service Pod Congestion Control" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
    • Notifier Service Pod Congestion Control: The Notifier service supports Pod Congestion Control to manage high volumes of incoming requests. It considers every incoming request and decides to either reject or accept it based on a defined request priority and the status of service congestion level. For more information, see the "Notifier Service Pod Congestion Control" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Single UE ID Implementation: Policy supports optimizing the query on PolicyDS database using configurable UE IDs. Also, Policy reports on the migration status of database records when the query type is switched based on UE IDs. For example, it reports the number of database records to be migrated when switching from Multi UE ID to Single UE ID. For more information, see "Optimizing PolicyDS Database Query With Configurable UE IDs" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Histogram Metrics for Signaling and DB Access Processing Latency in Binding Service: In order to provide sufficient insight into Binding service's performance for incoming requests, Policy includes histogram metrics for Binding service. These Histogram metrics enable Policy to observe data distribution by measuring the latency of multiple HTTP and database requests sent and received by Binding service. For more information, see the "Support for Signaling and DB Access Processing Latency Histogram Metrics" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Handling DB cluster disconnect: PCF Cluster DB State API is integrated with CNC Console for Policy, which enables to view the PCF cluster database state on cnDBTier database. This API displays the realtime status of the cluster state and NF database functional state in the cnDBTier database cluster. For more information, see the "Support for cnDBTier APIs in CNC Console" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.
  • Enhanced Logging Support for Error Responses: Policy has been enhanced to support verbose logging for microservices involved in SM call flows (create, update, delete, and notify) at their default log level (WARN) to provide sufficient visibility into issues within or across the external facing interfaces of the microservices. For more information about this feature, see the "Logging Support for Error Response" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Converged Policy User Guide.

The following table lists the license names for feature mapping. For additional licensing information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Licensing Information User Manual.

License Name CCNC Number Feature Name
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Policy Control Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-9713 Supports Reattempt after Back-off during N1N2 Communication
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Policy Control Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-9615 Support for ASM 1.21.6
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Policy and Charging Rules Function - per 25K Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-9392 and CCNC-4995 Support for Dual Stack
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Policy Control Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-9173 Support for NR vs EUTRA KPIs for N7 Interface
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Policy Control Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-9108 Pod protection by rate limiting at Ingress Gateway
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Policy and Charging Rules Function - per 25K Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-9088 Supports Traffic Detection on SMF-N7 and TDF using Sd Interface
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Policy Control Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-8499 Integrating Policy with Different Network Functions
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Policy Control Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-8399 VoLTE Race Condition - Handling collision between AAR-STR, with UpdateNotify time out
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Policy Control Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-8176 PCF support to not send ASR while Notify-Update fails
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Policy and Charging Rules Function - per 25K Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-6293 LDAP Timeout and Retry Mechanism
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Policy Control Function - 25K Active Subscribers CCNC-8304 Handling of Multiple N1 N2 Transfer Messages
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Policy Control Function - 25K Active Subscribers CCNC-8725 PCF and BSF stale Binding Detection AUDIT and Report and Recover

2.11 Service Communication Proxy (SCP)

Release 25.1.201

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

Release 25.1.200

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy (SCP) 25.1.200 includes the following enhancements:
  • Support for ASM 1.21.6: SCP supports Aspen Service Mesh (ASM) 1.21.6 from this release. For more information, see the "Configuring SCP to Support Aspen Service Mesh" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • Support for Dual Stack: This enhancement introduces dual stack support for Aspen Service Mesh (ASM). For more information, see the "Support for Dual Stack" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Verbose Logging for SCP: This enhancement introduces verbose logging specifically for the SCP-Cache microservice within the data plane. For more information, see the "Verbose Logging for SCP" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Enhanced Notifications Handling: With the Enhanced Notifications Handling feature, SCP can alternate route notification requests even if the 3gpp-Sbi-Routing-Binding header does not contain the servName attribute. SCP obtains the target producer NF information from nfset and nfinst attributes of the notification request. In this case, SCP pegs the exact values of the producer NF type in ocscp_nf_type and ocscp_nf_service_type dimensions of the respective metrics. For more information, see the "Enhanced Notification Handling" and "Obtaining NF Information from Notification Requests" sections in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy User Guide.
  • Application Framework Change: Spring Boot has been replaced with Micronaut as the framework for microservices. To facilitate internal communication between SCP microservices, the following services have been introduced:
    • <helm-release-name>-scp-worker-int: Handles internal Server-Sent Events (SSE) communications for SCP-Worker, specifically for requests initiated towards Network Repository Function (NRF) from SCP-nrfProxy and SCP-nrfProxy-oauth services for Model-D and OAuth.
    • Additional "-int" services: Manage all other internal SSE communications, except those handled by scp-worker-int, between corresponding non "-int" services. The following "-int" services are supported:
      • <helm-release-name>-scpc-alternate-resolution-int
      • <helm-release-name>-scpc-audit-int
      • <helm-release-name>-scpc-configuration-int
      • <helm-release-name>-scpc-notification-int
      <helm-release-name> will be prefixed in each service name. For example, if the Helm release name is ocscp, then the scpc-configuration-int microservice name will be "ocscp-scpc-configuration-int".
    This architecture ensures streamlined and efficient internal communication within the SCP microservices. You must exclude the service ports of these services while configuring ASM. For more information about service ports, see the "SCP Traffic IP Flow" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.

The following table lists the license names for feature mapping. For additional licensing information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Licensing Information User Manual.

Table 2-8 License names for feature mapping

License Name CCNC Number Feature Name
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-9671 Application Framework Change
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-8832 Support for ASM 1.21.6
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-8122 Enhanced Notifications Handling
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-7610 Obtaining NF Information from Notification Requests
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Advance Networking - 25K Active Subscribers CCNC-5190 Support for Dual Stack
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-5169 Verbose Logging for SCP
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Service Communication Proxy - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-3627 Model-D Capacity Enhancement

2.12 Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP)

Release 25.1.201

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

Release 25.1.200

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP) 25.1.200 includes the following enhancements:
  • Cat-1 NRF Service API Query Parameters Validation:

    With this feature, SEPP supports filtering of request based on the specific NF Type combination.

    This feature leverages the requester-nf-type and target-nf-type details provided in the discovery request, allowing operators to configure and enforce fine-grained control over Cat-1 rules.

    Key benefits of the feature includes:
    • Controlled access: Restricts access to the nnrf-disc service based on NF types, blocking unauthorized requests.
    • Improved security: Blocks unapproved access, improves security and protects the system from unwanted or harmful interactions.
    • Targeted filtering: Enables operators to define rules based on NF types, providing precise control over which network functions can access the service.
    • Reduced risk: Acts as a firewall to reduce the chances of untrusted network functions connecting to important APIs, making the system safer.

      This feature enhances security by allowing only trusted network functions to access the NNRF-disc service.

      For more information, see the "Cat-1 NRF Service API Query Parameters Validation Feature" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy User Guide, Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy REST Specification Guide, and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy Troubleshooting Guide.

  • LCI and OCI Headers in 5G Architecture: In the 5G architecture, frequent network overload due to substantial data exchanges between producer and consumer Network Functions (NFs) necessitates precise load balancing to prevent failures. Prompt communication of overload conditions from producer NFs to consumer NFs is essential for timely corrective actions. The LCI and OCI headers play a critical role by providing real-time insights into SEPP resources and facilitating efficient traffic management. These headers equip consumer NFs with critical load and overload information, optimizing traffic distribution and proactive measures during overload scenarios, ensuring a stable, high-performing 5G Core Network, even under heavy loads. For more information, see the "LCI and OCI Headers" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy User Guide and the "Customizable Parameters" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.
  • SEPP Dashboard Support for Detecting Vulnerable Messages:

    In earlier releases, SEPP metrics could not be filtered by the originating PLMN ID, making it difficult to segregate and identify the source of messages. This feature enhances the metrics by enabling segregation based on PLMN ID, thereby improving operational efficiency in tracking message origins.

    • CSEPP: The existing metric ocsepp_cn32f_requests_total has been enhanced to include source_plmn_id as a new dimension.
    • PSEPP: A new metric ocsepp_originating_network_request_success_total has been introduced, which includes peer_plmn as a dimension.
    For more information, see the "SEPP Dashboard Support for Detecting Vulnerable Messages" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy User Guide.

The following table lists the license names for feature mapping. For additional licensing information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Licensing Information User Manual.

Table 2-9 License names for feature mapping

License Name CCNC Number Feature Name
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, 5G Signaling Firewall - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetua CCNC-6385 Cat-1 NRF Service API Query Parameters Validation
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-3460 LCI and OCI Headers
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Security Edge Protection Proxy - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-4307 SEPP Dashboard Support for Detecting Vulnerable Messages

2.13 Unified Data Repository (UDR)

Release 25.1.200

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository (UDR) 25.1.200 includes the following enhancements:
  • Lifecycle Management (LCM) Based Automation: This feature optimizes the deployment or upgrade steps. This is achieved by automating service account creation that enables you to create user-defined service account automatically without performing any manual steps. For more information, see the "Lifecycle Management (LCM) Based Automation" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Provisioning Gateway Installation Guide.
  • Support for Export of Policy Data in Comma Separated Value (CSV) Format: This feature enables the Subscriber Export Tool to export the 5G and 4G subscriber policy data, which includes the profile data and policy data (am-data, sm-data, and ue-policy-set) in CSV file format from cnUDR. The converted subscriber data in CSV file format is used by the Subscriber Bulk Import Tool to import the subscriber data along with its policy data on an another instance of cnUDR. For more information, see the "Support for Export of Policy Data in Comma Separated Value (CSV) Format" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide.
  • Support for Dual Stack: With this feature, cnUDR and Provisioning Gateway can be deployed on a dual stack Kubernetes infrastructure. Using the dual stack mechanism, cnUDR and Provisioning Gateway establish and accept connections within pods and services in a Kubernetes cluster using IPv4 or IPv6. For more information, see the "Support for Dual Stack" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide and Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Provisioning Gateway Installation Guide.
  • Support for cnDBTier Backup Status APIs in CNC Console: With this enhancement, UDR can view the cnDBTier backup status, such as the current timestamp, backup in progress, and next scheduled backup using CNC Console. For more information, see the "cnDBTier Backup Status" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide.
  • Ingress Gateway Pod Protection Using Rate Limiting: With this feature, rate limiting mechanism is applied for Ingress Gateway pods. This mechanism allows pods to process a predefined number of requests. When the request rate exceeds the threshold, the pods take action to protect themselves. Depending on the configuration, the pods either reject the additional requests with a custom error code or allows the request. For more information, see the "Ingress Gateway Pod Protection Using Rate Limiting" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository User Guide.
  • Support for ASM 1.21.6: UDR 25.1.200 supports Aspen Service Mesh (ASM) 1.21.6 version on Kubernetes 1.27 version from this release. For more information, see the "Configuring UDR to Support Aspen Service Mesh" section in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository Installation, Upgrade, and Fault Recovery Guide.

The following table lists the license names for feature mapping. For additional licensing information, see Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Licensing Information User Manual.

Table 2-10 License names for feature mapping

License Name CCNC Number Feature Name
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Subscriber Location Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-10117 SLF capacity growth on 23.4.1 (Signalling TPS = 50K ; Provisioning TPS = 1.2K , Sub Cap: 64M)
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Advance Networking - 25K Active Subscribers CCNC-9467 Support for Dual Stack
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Lifecycle Management - 25K Active Subscribers CCNC-9151 Lifecycle Management (LCM) Based Automation
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Subscriber Location Function - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-9133 Support for ASM 1.21.6
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Automated Lifecycle Management - 25K Active Subscribers CCNC-9094 Lifecycle Management (LCM) Based Automation
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository - 25K Active Subscribers Perpetual CCNC-5480 Support for Export of Policy Data in Comma Separated Value (CSV) Format
Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core, Unified Data Repository - 25K Active Subscribers - Ingress Gateway Pod Protection Using Rate Limiting