In this section:

Overview

Note

The terms data measurements and statistics can be used interchangeably in this page. 

The Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC) is a traffic hub between Diameter realms as well as a routing node in a given realm. For local and cross-realm traffic, statistics on incoming request and their processing results such as successful, retransmitted, or rejected can be used for traffic analysis and billing verification between roaming partners.

Realm Accounting is a feature that counts some details of Diameter transactions such as Incoming ADN, Outgoing ADN, Originating Realm, Destination Realm, and so on. The counters are written to a Comma Separated Values (CSV) file.

To constrain memory usage, the DSC Realm Accounting function has an overflow limit of 50,000 records. If the maximum memory limit is reached, the records are stored in the temporary overflow bucket.

This feature is for all messages processed by a DSC Node if the Realm Accounting attribute is set to ENABLED. Realm accounting can also be enabled per message by using Routing Tables and configuring an associated Modification Record with command realm-accounting.

For more information about the DSC Node and Routing Tables configuration, refer to

Realm Accounting is supported as Version 1 and Version 2. The default value is Version 1. Version 2 can be configured in the DSC Node by setting the Realm Accounting Format to VERSION 2. For more information, refer to Realm-based Redirection of Diameter Messages.

Note

 Version 1 is supported for backward compatibility.

The Realm Accounting data measurements are listed and described in the following table.

Realm Accounting Data Measurements -- Listing and Description

Stats Name

Type

Description

Incoming Requests

Count

Number of received new requests with Orig-Realm (c) from ADN (d). Excludes re-transmits and redirects.

Outgoing Requests

Count

Number of sent new requests sent using outgoing ADN (f). Excludes re-transmits and redirects.

Incoming Answers (2xxx)

Count

Number of answers received with Orig-Realm (c) from ADN (f). Result code 2xxx (success).

Outgoing Answers (2xxx)

Count

Number of answers sent using ADN (f). Result code 2xxx (success).

Incoming Answers UTD

Count

Number of received answers with result code 3002 (UNABLE TO DELIVER).

Outgoing Answers UTD

Count

Number of sent answers with result code 3002 (UNABLE TO DELIVER).

Incoming Answers Redirect

Count

Number of received answers requiring redirection.

Outgoing Answers Redirect

Count

Number of sent answers requiring redirection. No Destination ADN Name is defined.

Incoming Answers Other

Count

Number of received answers with other RC (or experimental RC) than UNABLE TO DELIVER, redirect, and 2xxx.

Outgoing Answers Other

Count

Number of sent answers with other RC (or experimental RC) than UNABLE TO DELIVER, redirect, and 2xxx.

Retransmitted Requests

Count

Number of (sent) retransmitted requests. Includes redirection requests and retransmissions.

Rejected Requests Filtering

Count

Number of received requests that failed filtering via routing tables. As defined by a sonus_error provisioning.

Rejected Requests In-gress Filtering

Count

Number of received requests that failed ingress filtering feature.

Rejected Requests Other

Count

Number of received requests rejected by the DSC other filtering. Includes destination unavailable counts.

Timed out Requests

Count

Number of requests that timed out without receiving an answer.

Discarded Answers

Count

Number of answers discarded due to unavailable originator.

Incoming Answers Realm Redirect

Count

Number of Realm Redirect Indications received [answers containing Result-Code 3011 (DIAMETER_REALM_REDIRECT_INDICATION)].

If this counter is incremented, the Incoming Answers Other is also incremented.

Outgoing Answers Realm Redirect Local

Count

Number Realm Redirect Indications sent because of a Result Table with a Realm Redirect Record. In this case the request does not leave the DSC, so the Instance contains no outgoing ADN and no Outgoing Diameter-Realm [both are set to (null)]. If this counter is incremented, the Outgoing Answers Other is also incremented.
Outgoing Answers Realm Redirect Passthrough

Count

Number of Realm Redirect Indications sent because a Realm Redirect Indication was received from the next hop and the Diameter Request was not relayed (so a Realm Redirect Indication is passed back to the previous hop as per RFC7075). If this counter is incremented, Outgoing Answers Other is also incremented.

Note

A script is executed daily on the Management CPU to compare statistics files on each CPU card. A merge file is generated when statistics files on each Management CPU card are not synchronized. A merge file is present only when a mismatch between files is detected and should be substituted for the default system statistics file to retrieve accurate system data.

Realm Accounting - Version 1

The following figure shows an example of the data measurements file for Version 1.

Note

To view the comma-delimited data measurements file retrieved from the DSC, save the file using a .csv file extension (comma-separated variables file type) and import into a spreadsheet. 

version=15.0
date               instance                                                                 Incoming Requests   Outgoing Requests   Incoming Answers 2xxx   Outgoing Answers 2xxx   Incoming Answers UTD    Outgoing Answers UTD   Incoming Answers Redirect  Outgoing Answers Redirect   Incoming Answers Other   Outgoing Answers Other   Retransmit Requests   Rejected Requests Filtering   Rejected Requests In-gress Filtering    Rejected Requests Other    Timeout Requests   Discarded Answers   Incoming Answers Realm Redirect  Outgoing Answers Realm Redirect Local  Outgoing Answers Realm Redirect Passthrough
2018-06-19-13:55   <company>-Vegas mwdea_029a RAOtt:ra.ra.rbbn.com:ra.rbbn.com:(null)              1                   0                   0                       0                       0                       0                      0                          0                           0                        1                        0                     0                             0                                       1                          0                  0                   0                                1                                      0
2018-06-19-13:55   <company>-Vegas mwdea_013 ra.rbbn.com:A1:RAOtt:ra.ra.rbbn.com                 1                   1                   1                       1                       0                       0                        0                          0                           0                        0                        0                     0                             0                                       0                          0                  0                   0                                0                                      0
2018-06-19-13:55   <company>-Vegas ra_030 ra.rbbn.com:RelayTrain:ra.rbbn.com:mwdea.ra.rbbn.com   1                   1                   0                       0                       0                       1                          0                          0                           1                        0                        0                     0                             0                                       0                          0                  0                   1                                0                                      0

The Instance represents the Diameter transaction in the DSC that generates the data measurement. There is no individual DSC object related to the Realm Accounting. The statistics are presented in a string with the format <a> <b> <c>:<d>:<e>:<f> as follows:

<DSC Instance Name> <DSC Node Name> <Originating Realm of the incoming request>:<Name of the incoming ADN>:<Destination Realm of the incoming request>:<Name of the ADN from which the answer is received>

The Instance definition can refer to the alias for the Realm when the Realm is defined in the Realm Definition table.

ADN names are based on configuration data. When an ADN name is modified, a new record (row) is created in the data measurements file.

In the preceding data measurements example (<company>-Vegas ra_030 ra.rbbn.com:RelayTrain:ra.rbbn.com:mwdea.ra.rbbn.com), the Instance is defined as:

a : DSC Instance Name = <compamy>-Vegas

b : DSC Node Name = ra_030

c : Originating realm of the incoming request = ra.rbbn.com

d : Name of the incoming ADN = RelayTrain

e : Originating realm of the incoming answer = ra.rbbn.com

f : Name of the ADN from which the answer is received = mwdea.ra.rbbn.com

Realm Accounting - Version 2

The following figure shows an example of the data measurements file for Version 2.

Note

To view the comma-delimited data measurements file retrieved from the DSC, save the file using a .csv file extension (comma-separated variables file type) and import into a spreadsheet. 

version=15.0
date              instance                                                                                            Incoming Requests  Outgoing Requests  Incoming Answers 2xxx  Outgoing Answers 2xxx  Incoming Answers UTD  Outgoing Answers UTD   Incoming Answers Redirect  Outgoing Answers Redirect  Incoming Answers Other  Outgoing Answers Other  Retransmit Requests   Rejected Requests Filtering   Rejected Requests In-gress Filtering   Rejected Requests Other  Timeout Requests   Discarded Answers   Incoming Answers Realm Redirect   Outgoing Answers Realm Redirect Local  Outgoing Answers Realm Redirect Passthrough
2018-05-31-00:05  <company>-Vegas ra_030 ra.rbbn.com:RelayTrain:ra.rbbn.com:mwdea.ra.rbbn.com:3GPP S6a:AAR:ra.rbbn.com  1                  1                  0                      0                      0                     1                      0                          0                          1                       0                       0                     0                             0                                      0                        0                  0                   1                                 0                                      0
2018-05-31-00:05  <company>-Vegas ra_033 RAOtt:KOtt:ra.rbbn.com:R2:3GPP S6a:AAR:RAIPX2                                0                  0                  0                      0                      1                     0                      0                          0                          0                       0                       1                     0                             0                                      0                        0                  0                   0                                 0                                      0
2018-05-31-00:05  <company>-Vegas ra_033 RAOtt:KOtt:ra.rbbn.com:mwdea.ra.rbbn.com:3GPP S6a:AAR:ra.rbbn.com            1                  1                  0                      0                      0                     0                      0                          0                          1                       0                       0                     0                             0                                      0                        0                  0                   1                                 0                                      0

The Instance represents the Diameter transaction in the DSC that generates the data measurement. There is no individual DSC object related to the Realm Accounting. The statistics are presented in a string with the format <a> <b> <c>:<d>:<e>:<f>:<g>:<h>:<I> as follows:

<DSC Instance Name> <DSC Node Name> <Originating Realm of the incoming request>:<Name of the incoming ADN>:<Originating Realm of the incoming answer>:<Name of the ADN from which the answer is received> <Application ID> <Command Code> <Destination Realm of the outgoing request>

Note

The Instance definition can refer to the alias for the Realm when the Realm is defined in the Realm Definition table.

ADN names are based on configuration data. When an ADN name is modified, a new record (row) is created in the data measurements file.

In the preceding data measurements example (<company>-Vegas ra_030 ra.rbbn.com:RelayTrain:ra.rbbn.com:mwdea.ra.rbbn.com:3GPP S6a:AAR:ra.rbbn.com), the Instance is defined as:

a : DSC Instance Name = <company>-Vegas

b : DSC Node Name = ra_030

c : Originating realm of the incoming request = ra.rbbn.com

d : Name of the incoming ADN = RelayTrain

e : Originating realm of the incoming answer = ra.rbbn.com

f : Name of the ADN from which the answer is received = mwdea.ra.rbbn.com

g: Application-Id: = 3GPP S6a

h: Command-Code = AAR

i: Destination-Realm of the outgoing Request  = ra.rbbn.com

Multiple Re-transmissions

Multiple outgoing requests or re-transmissions on a DSC Node can occur when an outgoing request to an ADN cannot be delivered and is returned as an incoming answer UTD (Unable to Deliver).

The DSC node re-transmits the request to another ADN. If another incoming answer UTD response is received, the DSC Node re-transmits to other ADNs using a round robin algorithm. If the request cannot be delivered, the DSC Node returns the request to the originating ADN as an outgoing answer UTD.

The following figure shows an example of multiple sub-transactions occurring on a DSC node.

Multiple Re-Transmit Requests on a DSC Node

Three Instances generate statistics for all sub-transactions, as follows:

    1. Originating ADN to Destination ADN Instance is updated for:
      • incoming request
      • outgoing request
      • incoming answer UTD

    2. Originating ADN to Destination ADN (R1) Instance is updated for:
      • re-transmitted request
      • incoming answer UTD
          
    3. Originating ADN to Destination ADN (R2) Instance is updated for:
      • re-transmitted request
      • incoming answer UTD
      • outgoing answer UTD