GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP)

Agenda

GPRS/UMTS Overview GTP Overview APNs GTP Details

GPRS/UMTS Logical Architecture

Gr or Gc
GTP-MAP protocol converting GSN

HLR

Gn TE MT BSS Gb Iu TE MT UTRAN SGSN Gn Gp Iu TE MT UTRAN SGSN Other PLMN SGSN Gn Gn GGSN Gi PDN TE Gc

Signalling Interface Signalling and Data Transfer Interface

User Plan for GPRS/UMTS

Application IP / X.25
Relay

IP / X.25 SNDCP LLC

Relay

SNDCP LLC RLC MAC GSM RF Um RLC MAC GSM RF BSSGP Network Service L1bis Gb

GTP-U UDP / TCP IP L2 L1 Gn

GTP-U UDP / TCP IP L2 L1 Gi

BSSGP Network Service L1bis

MS
Application

BSS

SGSN

GGSN

IP, PPP, OSP Relay PDCP RLC MAC L1

Uu

IP, PPP, OSP Relay GTP-U UDP/IP AAL5 ATM

Iu-PS

PDCP RLC MAC L1

GTP-U UDP/IP AAL5 ATM

GTP-U UDP/IP L2 L1
Gn

GTP-U UDP/IP L2 L1
Gi

MS

UTRAN

3G-SGSN

3G-GGSN

GTP Overview
GPRS Tunneling Protocol is
The protocol between GPRS Support Nodes Includes both the GTP signaling (GTP-C) & data transfer (GTP-U) procedures Is defined for the Gn interface, i.e. the interface between GSNs within a PLMN & For the Gp interface between GSNs in different PLMNs Allows multi-protocol packets to be tunneled through the UMTS/GPRS backbone

GTP Overview (Cont.)

GTP-C is the signaling plane and specifies a tunnel control and management protocol is used to create, delete modify tunnels. GTP-U is the transmission plan & uses a tunneling mechanism (GTP-U) to provide a service for carrying user data packets Definitions T-PDU Original data packet G-PDU Original data packet (T-PDU) + GTP header

GTP Header
Octets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 8 7
Version

5
PT

4
(*)

3
E

2
S

1
PN

Message Type Length (1st Octet) Length (2nd Octet) Tunnel Endpoint Identifier (1st Octet) Tunnel Endpoint Identifier (2nd Octet) Tunnel Endpoint Identifier (3rd Octet) Tunnel Endpoint Identifier (4th Octet) Sequence Number (1st Octet) Sequence Number (2nd Octet) N-PDU number Next Extension Header Type
SGSN specific

GTP Messages
GTP defines a set of messages. These are classified into
Path Management messages Tunnel Management messages Location Management messages Mobility Management messages

Call set up and tear down

Create PDP Context req.

Create PDP Context resp.

G-PDU (data transfer)

Delete PDP Context req.

Delete PDP Context resp.

SGSN GGSN

Tunnel Management Messages

Create PDP Context Request Create PDP Context Response
Delete PDP Context Request Delete PDP Context Response Update PDP Context request Update PDP Context Response PDU Notification request PDU Notification response PDU Notification reject request PDU Notification reject response
Used for SGSN handoff DHCP relay of PDP address

Used for n/w initiated PDP context

Access Point Name

An APN identifies a PDN that is configured on and accessible from A GGSN. APN has two parts. APN Network Identifier APN Operator Identifier The APN network identifier must correspond to a fully qualified name in DNS e.g. starentnetworks.com The access Points that are supported by the GGSN are preconfigured on the GGSN. APN is sent in the create PDP context request message to GGSN. APN has several attributes associated associated with its configuration which specify how the user can access the network at the entry point.

APN Attributes
Some of the attributes are - APN Network Identifier - Access Mode Transparent (no authentication) / Non-transparent - IP address pool - Primary DHCP server - Secondary DHCP server - DHCP gateway address - RADIUS server - Backup RADIUS server - IP address of the next hop for the Gi interface Attributes to get logs - Current allocated IP address count - Current PDP context count

Path Management Messages

Path management messages can be sent between any type of GSNs. Echo Request No elements Echo Response Recovery Version not supported No elements Supported Extension Header Notifications Extension header type list

Echo Request/Response Message

Echo request is send on a path to another GSN to find out if the Peer GSN is alive. The periodicity is implementation dependent but is > 60 secs. The Echo response is sent with the local restart counter of the GSN. The GSN receiving the response would compare the restart counter value to the previous stored value to check if the GSN has restarted. The receiving GSN clears off all the PDP context belonging to the restarted GSN. Every GSN maintains its own restart counter in non-volatile memory and its peers restart counters in volatile memory.

Tunnel Management Messages (cont.)

Create PDP Context Request
IMSI Recovery Selection Mode Tunnel End Point Identifies Data 1 Tunnel Endpoint Identifier Control Plan NSAPI Linked NSAPI Charging Characteristics Trace Reference Conditional Optional Conditional Mandatory Conditional Mandatory Conditional Optional Optional

Trace Type
End User Address Access Point Name Protocol Configuration Options SGSN Address for signaling

Optional
Conditional Conditional Conditional Mandatory

SGSN Address for user traffic

MSISDN Quality of service Profile TFT Trigger ID OMC identity Private Extension

Mandatory
Conditional Mandatory Conditional Optional Optional Optional

Tunnel Management Messages (cont.)

Create PDP Context response
Information Element Presence required

Cause
Reordering required Recovery Tunnel Endpoint Identifier Data 1

Mandatory
Conditional Optional Conditional

Tunnel Endpoint Id. control Plane

Changing ID End User Address Protocol Configuration Options GGSN Address for Control Plane GGSN Address for Use Traffic Quality of Service profile Charging Gateway Address Private Extension

Conditional
Conditional Conditional Optional Conditional Conditional Conditional Optional Optional

* Private extension contains vendor or operator specific info

Tunnel Management Messages (cont.)

Cause: Indicates if the PDP context was created. Some of the values are - Request accepted - No resource available - All dynamic PDP addresses are occupied - No memory available - Missing or unknown APN etc. If the PDP context request fails the SGSN tries to create the PDP context with the next GGSN in its GGSN list.

Tunnel Management Messages(cont)

Error Indication msg.
Information Element Tunnel Endpoint Identifier data GSN Address Private extension Presence Mandatory Mandatory Optional

Sent from GSN if no active PDP context exists for the received G-PDU. When an error indication is received, the receiving GSN deletes the corresponding PDP context. The elements TEID and GSN address are derived from the data message and uniquely specify the PDP context.

Location Management Messages

Used for network initiated PDP context request when there is no SS7 MAP interface at the GGSN

GTP-MAP Interworking
MAP GTP GTP UDP IP L2 L1 Gn+ UDP IP L2 L1 MAP TCAP SCCP MTP3 MTP2 L1 Gc TCAP SCCP MTP3 MTP2 L1

GGSN

SGSN

HLR

Location Management Messages (cont)

Send Routing Information for GPRS Request Send Routing Information for GPRS Response Failure Report Request Failure Report Response

Note MS GPRS Present Request Note MS GPRS Present Response

Mobility Management Messages:

Sent between SGSNs at the GPRS attach and Inter SGSN routing update procedures.

Reliable Delivery of Signaling Messages

Each path maintains a queue with Signaling msg. to be sent A request (with a response) shall be sent with a sequence number and shall be held in a path list till the response comes. Each path has its own list The sequence number is unique for each outstanding req. msg. T3-Response timer Max time a requesting entity would wait before retransmission N3-Requests times Max number of retransmissions allowed. these two are configurable parameters on the stack.

Handling of Sequence Number (optional)

For GTP-C Used in request-response type of signaling messages as transaction Identity. In the response message the seq. no. of request message is copied.

For GTP-U An increasing number of T-PDUs are transmitted via GTP-U tunnel when transmission order must be preserved. The receiving GGSN would reorder the incoming T-PDUs in seq. if the reordering required flag in the PDP context is set. In this case if required the GGSN would maintain a window and a timers to make sure that a G-PDU was lost. The sequence number is kept unchanged irrespective of the tunnels it travels before the destination.