1. Loading Rated Events
  2. About Loading Rated Events into the BRM Database

1 About Loading Rated Events into the BRM Database

Learn about loading rated events into the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM) database from Elastic Charging Engine (ECE) using Rated Event Loader (RE Loader).

Topics in this chapter:

See also:

How Rated Events are Loaded Into the BRM Database

The RE Loader can be used by both the Pipeline Manager and ECE to load rated events into the BRM database. For information about using RE Loader with Pipeline manager, see "Loading Rated Events" in Configuring Pipeline Rating and Discounting. There are different methods of loading the records, depending on the event types, whether the records are coming from Pipeline Manager or ECE, and your business needs.

Methods of Transferring Rated Events to BRM

Prior to BRM 12.0 Patch Set 5, there was one method for loading rated events into the BRM database. As of Patch Set 5, there is a new component, the Rated Event Manager (RE Manager), which includes four different modes of operation, equating to four different methods of transferring rated events to BRM. The RE Manager has a plug-in for the Rated Event Formatter (RE Formatter) in ECE and a daemon in BRM. The RE Manager can be used only for ECE (not for Pipeline Manager), and it can be used for all types of events from ECE except for suspense management events. It has higher performance than the original method. Another method of transferring rated events, streaming to/from a Kafka topic, was added in Patch Set 8.

The following methods of transferring rated events are available:

Original Method

The original method can be used for all types of rated events, and for files from both ECE and Pipeline Manager. It transfers files to an intermediate file system where they are picked up by BRM. For information about using RE Loader with Pipeline manager, see "Loading Rated Events" in Configuring Pipeline Rating and Discounting.

The process when this method is used with ECE is:

  1. In the ECE system, Rated Event Publisher (RE Publisher) publishes rated events to an Oracle NoSQL database or Oracle Database.
  2. RE Formatter uses the BRM call detail record (CDR) plug-in to write the rated events to a CDR file and send the file to a specified directory.
  3. Rated Event Loader (RE Loader) retrieves the CDR file from the directory and loads the rated events into the BRM database. RE Formatter and RE Loader can run on the same system or different systems, as long as they can both access the CDR file directory.

The following chapters contain information that is relevant to using this processing method:

DIRECT Mode (Patch Set 5 or later)

This mode loads the data directly from ECE into the regular tables in the BRM database. This is the most direct method, but it uses more bandwidth than the ZIP_DB option. The process when this mode is used is:

  1. In the ECE system, RE Publisher publishes rated events to an Oracle NoSQL database or Oracle Database.
  2. RE Formatter uses the ECE RE Manager Plug-in to write the rated events to temporary CDR files. The RE Manager Loader inserts the CDRs directly into the BRM database.
  3. The RE Manager Loader passes information to the RE Manager Updater, which updates the balances in the BRM database.

The following chapters contain information that is relevant to using this processing method:

ZIP_DB Mode (Patch Set 5 or later)

This mode creates a ZIP file and stores it in the /batch/rel object in the database, where a BRM process loads it into the regular tables. The process when this mode is used is:

  1. In the ECE system, RE Publisher publishes rated events to an Oracle NoSQL database or Oracle Database.
  2. RE Formatter uses the ECE RE Manager Plug-in to write the rated events to temporary CDR files. The RE Manager compresses the CDRs and inserts the ZIP file directly into a new table in the BRM database.
  3. The RE Manager Zip Transfer Processor in BRM reads the ZIP file and updates the RE Manager Loader and the RE Manager Updater.
  4. The RE Manager Loader inserts the records into the BRM Database and the RE Manager Updater updates the balances.

The following chapters contain information that is relevant to using this processing method:

ZIP_FILE Mode (Patch Set 5 or later)

This mode compresses the CDRs in a transaction into a single file before transferring it to an intermediate file system where it is picked up by BRM. The process when this mode is used is:

  1. In the ECE system, RE Publisher publishes rated events to an Oracle NoSQL database or Oracle Database.
  2. RE Formatter uses the ECE RE Manager Plug-in to write the rated events to temporary CDR files. The RE Manager compresses the CDRs and creates the ZIP file on the specified file system.
  3. The RE Manager Directory Processor in BRM reads the ZIP file and updates the RE Manager Loader and the RE Manager Updater.
  4. The RE Manager Loader inserts the records into the BRM Database and the RE Manager Updater updates the balances.

The following chapters contain information that is relevant to using this processing method:

CDR Mode (Patch Set 5 or later)

This mode is similar to the original method. It transfers individual files to an intermediate file system, where they are picked up by BRM. You might choose this method if you wanted to read or perform some action on the files before they were picked up by BRM. The process when this mode is used is:

  1. In the ECE system, RE Publisher publishes rated events to an Oracle NoSQL database or Oracle Database.
  2. RE Formatter uses the ECE RE Manager Plug-in to write the rated events to temporary CDR files. RE Manager in CDR Mode writes the rated events to CDR files and creates the files in a specified directory.
  3. The RE Manager Directory Processor in BRM reads the CDR files and updates the RE Manager Loader and the RE Manager Updater.
  4. The RE Manager Loader inserts the records into the BRM Database and the RE Manager Updater updates the balances.

The following chapters contain information that is relevant to using this processing method:

Event Streaming Mode (Patch Set 8 or later)

This mode streams events to and from a Kafka topic. The process when this mode is used is:

  1. In the ECE system, RE Publisher publishes rated events to one or more Kafka topics. These topics can be subscribed to from external systems, such as analytics and reporting systems.
  2. The RE Manager Stream Processor in BRM reads the messages from the Kafka stream and updates the RE Manager Loader and the RE Manager Updater.
  3. The RE Manager Loader inserts the records into the BRM Database and the RE Manager Updater updates the balances.

The following chapters contain information that is relevant to using this processing method:

Rated Event Loading

RE Manager Loader and RE Loader load rated events directly into the BRM database, bypassing the Connection Manager (CM) and Data Manager (DM). RE Loader then updates account balances, billing items, and journals in the BRM database.

RE Loader uses a partitioned database and inserts pre-rated events into separate partitions allocated for delayed events. The events are called "delayed" because they are rated before they are loaded, and there is a delay between the two actions.

Note:

You must partition your database when loading pre-rated events. See "Partitioning Database Tables" in BRM System Administrator's Guide.

By default, RE Loader loads the events shown in Table 1-1. However, you can configure RE Loader to load custom events. See "Adding New Types of Events for RE Loader to Load".

Table 1-1 Services and Events Loaded by Default

Service Event

GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)

/event/delayed/session/gprs

GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication)

/event/delayed/session/telco/gsm

About Running RE Loader

You can run RE Loader in the following ways:

  • By using Batch Controller (see "Configuring RE Loader to Run Automatically by Using Batch Controller"). Batch Controller detects when a file is present in the RE Formatter output directory and starts the RE Loader batch handler. RE Loader batch handler starts the RE Loader utility (pin_rel) to load the events. RE Loader batch handler moves the original file to an archive directory if the records are successfully loaded or to a reject directory if the records are not successfully loaded.

  • By using the RE Loader daemon (see "Configuring RE Loader to Run Automatically by Using the RE Loader Daemon"). The RE Loader daemon detects when CDR files arrive in the input directory, and then processes them. The RE Loader daemon moves the original file to an archive directory if the records are successfully loaded or to a reject directory if the records are not successfully loaded.

If your CDR files are small, Oracle recommends loading events by using the RE Loader daemon. You should compare the two methods by running them both in a test system.

You can also run RE Loader manually, by running the pin_rel utility. See "Rated Event Loader pin_rel Utility".

If any errors occur during event loading, all events loaded in that session are deleted from the database. After events are successfully loaded, if any errors occur during the update procedure, you can correct the errors and then update the relevant events by rerunning the RE Loader utility. The utility detects that the events loaded correctly and performs only the update procedure. See "Troubleshooting Rated Event Loading".

About Backing Up RE Loader Files

By default, RE Loader skips redo generation when loading files into the BRM database. This optimizes loading performance, but it can cause you to lose data if your system shuts down ungracefully.

To prevent data loss when your system shuts down:

  • Make full backups of the BRM database on a regular basis.

  • Archive all successfully loaded files until you make a full database backup.

You can re-enable redo generation, at the cost of loading performance, by modifying the RE Loader control files. See "Configuring Whether to Perform Redo Generation".

About Using RE Loader in a Multischema System

If you use a multischema system, you must set up the following for each BRM database schema in your system:

  • RE Loader instance. Each instance of RE Loader must also have its own set of RE Loader processing directories.

  • (Running RE Loader automatically only) An instance of Batch Controller and the RE Loader batch handler.

About Configuring Rated Event Loading

To retrieve and load rated events: