SS7 and SS7 over IP protocol suite

Topics

Example of GSM communication

What is SS7/SS7-over-IP?
Many SS7 Protocol Standards
In-band & out-of-band signalling
SS7 conceptual model
STP (Signalling Transfer Point)
Signalling link and linkset
SS7 stack versus OSI model
SS7 stack in a SS7 network topology
SIGTRAN / Cisco ITP stack
SS7 network topology with ITPs

Communication in GSM

BSC

Cell Phone
(originator)

MSC

VLR

EIR

BTS

HLR

BSC

VLR
CGF

BTS
Cell Phone
(receiver)
MSC

Registration into network

BSC

Cell Phone
(originator)

MSC

VLR

EIR

BTS

HLR

1)MS>MSCLocationUpdateRequest
2)MS<MSCIdentityRequest
3)MS>MSCIdentityResponse
4)MS<>MSC
MSC<>HLRAuthentication
5)MS<>MSC
MSC<>EIRIMEIcheck

Registration into network

BSC

Cell Phone
(originator)

MSC

VLR

EIR

BTS

HLR

6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)

MSC
HLR
MSC
HLR
MSC
MS

->
->
->
->
->
->

HLR
MSC
HLR
MSC
MS
MSC

Update Location
Insert Subsriber Data
Insert Subsriber Data Acknowledgment
Update Location Acknowledgment
Location Update Accept
TMSI Reallocation Complete

Communication
Air Interface

in GSM
Access Network
BSC

Cell Phone
(originator)

MSC

VLR

Core Network
for signalling using
SS7 or SS7 over IP

BTS
EIR

HLR
CGF
BSC

VLR

BTS
Cell Phone
(receiver)

MSC

What is SS7/SS7-over-IP?

SS7 = international standard signalling protocol

SS7 provides highly reliable message transfer
no duplication or loss when sending messages
SS7 is widely deployed worldwide in Public Switched and Cellular
Telephony Networks
SS7 is spoken between
network switches, for basic call control and related services
network switches and databases, for network based services,
e.g. voice-mail, 0800 numbers, prepaid billing, roaming
SS7-over-IP (SIGTRAN) complements SS7 with
SS7-over-IP transport protocols
set of APIs to directly address SS7 stack layers in IN applications

Many SS7 Protocol Standards

SS7 was originally defined by ITU (predecessor CCITT)

US ANSI standard was developed from the Blue Book
Bellcores version is based on the ANSI standard
is today the US standard (with some exceptions)
China, Japan have their own flavour of SS7.
NEW SS7-over-IP, using so-called SIGTRAN protocols
Next generation of SS7 making use of IP infrastructure
Cisco ITP handles both SIGTRAN
as well as the traditional SS7 protocols/flavours

In-band and out-of-band signalling

signalling

before SS7:
in-band
signalling

EO

EO

Conversation

Conversation
with SS7:
out-of-band
signalling

SSP

CCSSO

STP
STP
STP
STP

signalling

signalling

SS7 conceptual model

SP (SSP)

SP (SSP)
STP

STP

SP (SCP)
SP (SCP)
SP (SSP)

STP

STP

Exchange

SP (SSP)

Packet
Switched
SS7 network

Signalling Network

Exchange
Circuit
Switched
voice network

Exchange

Exchange

Transport Network

STP (Signalling Transfer Point)

High speed, ultra-reliable SS7 network switch/router

Routing SS7 messages on
SS7 message header information
STP routing table information
STP fail-over
setup in fail-over pairs(mated pairs)
designed at 40% of its maximum capacity

Signalling link and linkset

SS7 Network Elements are interconnected

with dedicated digital, bidirectional links/timeslots.
Link
designed at 40% of max capacity
identified by SLC (Signalling Link Code), 0..15
Linkset
all parallel links between two SS7 nodes/point codes
max 16 links in one linkset

Signalling link and linkset

Linksets
SLC=0
SLC=1

SSP

SLC=0

STP
STP
STP

SLC=1
SLC=0

SSP

Combined
Linkset

SLC=1

STP
STP
STP

SS7 Stack - OSI Model

OSI layer 7
(Application)

- Application flow control

- Logical connection
Management

MTP3

OSI layer 3
(Network)

- Message Routing
- Message sequencing

MTP2

OSI layer 2
(Data Link)

- Point to point transmission

- Error Detection

MTP1

OSI layer 1
(Physical)

- Physical interface definition

- Bit stream transmission

MAP
ISUP

IS41
TCAP

SCCP

SS7 Over IP - OSI Model

MAP / IS41
TCAP
SCCP

MAP / IS41
ISUP

MAP / IS41
ISUP

TCAP

ISUP
TCAP

SCCP

MTP3

SUA
M3UA

M2PA
SCTP
IP
Ethernet
Physical

SS7 Stack in SS7 network topology

MAP IS41
ISUP TCAP
SCCP
MTP3
MTP2
MTP1

SCCP
MTP3
MTP2
MTP1

STP
STP

SCCP
MTP3
MTP2
MTP1

STP
STP

SSP

MAP IS41
TCAP
SCCP
MTP3
MTP2
MTP1

SMSC
STP
STP
SCCP
MTP3
MTP2
MTP1

STP
STP
SCCP
MTP3
MTP2
MTP1