Table of Contents

About SBC Release Notes

This document describes new features, the latest software requirements, known limitations and other pertinent release information for the latest release of SBC Core.

Please note that all Ribbon bugs reported by customers on a given software release will be fixed in the latest release on that software release branch.

To view and download the latest End of Product Sale (EoPS) and other End Of Life (EOL) notices, navigate to the Resource Library on the corporate website (https://ribboncommunications.com/company/get-help/resource-library).

Related Documentation

The SBC Core 07.02.xx documentation is located at the following Wiki space: SBC Core 7.2.x Documentation.

Release Notes Use and Distribution

Ribbon Release Notes are protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. This work contains proprietary information of Ribbon Communications, Westford, MA-01886, USA. Use, disclosure, or reproduction in any form is strictly prohibited without prior authorization from Ribbon Communications.

Associated Ribbon Bulletins

There are no associated Ribbon warnings or bulletins in this release.

To view/download Ribbon bulletins, do the following:

  1. Log on to the Support Portal (https://ribboncommunications.com/services/ribbon-support-portal-login)
  2. Click Bulletins link from the menu bar. 
  3. Enter the bulletin number (last eight numbers) in the search field and press Return.

Problems or Questions

For problems or questions, contact Ribbon Support through telephone or fax: 

Worldwide Voice: 1 (978) 614-8589

USA Toll-free: 1 (888) 391-3434

Worldwide Fax: 1 (978) 614-8609

About SBC Core

The SBC Core platforms address the next-generation needs of SIP communications by delivering media transcoding, robust security and advanced call routing, enabling service providers and enterprises to quickly and securely enhance their network by implementing services like SIP trunking, secure Unified Communications and Voice over IP (VoIP).

For more product information, refer to the section About SBC Core in the main documentation space.

Interoperability

The SBC Core software interoperates with the following:

  • SIP compliant IADs and IP-PBXs
  • PSX Policy Server Softswitch via SIP redirects and/or Diameter+ protocol
  • SBC 9000 through SIP call signaling and Networks MCS protocol
  • NetScore collection, analysis, monitoring, and reporting of selected Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on a near-real time basis

Note

NetScore maintains a list of remote host keys for all nodes from which it collects data. If NetScore is deployed in your network, connectivity to the SBC will be lost any time the SBC software is reinstalled because the SBC’s host key is updated during the install. Refer to NetScore Release Notes for steps needed to reconnect to the SBC.

Compatibility with Ribbon Products

Tip

When upgrading your network, ensure to upgrade each product to the most current release to take advantage of the latest features, enhancements, and fixes.

Info

For complete interoperability details between various Ribbon products, including backwards compatibility, refer to Ribbon Product Interoperability.

Refer to SBC 5000-7000-SWe Interoperability Matrices for the latest and minimum compatible product versions supporting the 07.02.03S400 release.

SBC SWe Cloud for AWS

Sample AWS CFN Templates Included in This Release

To instantiate the SBC instances, the following templates are used:

Templates

TemplateDescription
AWS_Stand_Alone_template.jsonOrchestration of Standalone SBC.
AWS_HFE_HA_template_auto_subnet.jsonHA with High-Availability Front End (HFE) and PKT0 subnet auto created.
AWS_HFE_HA_template.jsonHA with HFE and PKT0 subnet. Not auto created, and user choice of subnet selection.
AWS_HA_template.jsonOrchestration of High-Availability SBC.

SBC SWe Cloud Requirements for AWS

Note

Prior to the 7.0 release, the default CLI admin user name and password for AWS SWe was admin/admin. Release 7.2 removes passwords for linuxadmin and admin users and enforces additional user account security practices for SBC SWe deployments in AWS.

The following significant changes are introduced in the SBC 07.02.03S400 instances on AWS:

  • support only SSH Key login for the “admin” and "linuxadmin"  users

  • No default passwords for all Linux accounts on installation
    • To use EMA or other services which require passwords, the customer must add a user with a user password after installation/upgrade of SBC has completed.
  • “root” login from “linuxadmin” is disabled.
  • "linuxadmin" user  "sudo" access tightened:
    • On AMI Instance start-up the "linuxadmin” user will NOT be in the “sudo” group
    • When any valid licence installed, then “linuxadmin” user will be given sudo access
    • As a result of sudo access tightening, new diagnostic commands that do not require sudo root access are provided - /opt/sonus/sbx/scripts/sbcDiagnostic.sh

  • Sanity Checking - After AMI Instance Initiation

    • Ensure only default users in sshd_config file
    • No unexpected users are configured in the "sudo" group
    • Logging in with "ssh" is only available to the "linuxadmin" and "admin" users
    • For any unexpected users configured on the system
      • All accounts should be locked/removed from /etc/passwd (using "mod user -l")
      • Ensure only white list users are configured in /etc/sudoers.d
  • The system hosting AWS requires 65GiB of disk size.
  • The AWS release AMI name is release-sbc-V07.02.03S400-connexip-os_06.02.03-S400_344_amd64_04_11_19_23_55. The AMI ID is ami-080fd120054f4a16c in US East 1 Region. Contact your Ribbon sales representative to get access to the AMI ID.

Note

Ribbon recommends m5.xlarge or higher instance type if this instance type is available in your zone. Use c5.2xlarge instance type or higher to handle more calls with transcoding.

As of release 7.2S400, only following Instance types are supported for deployment in AWS:

  • m5.xlarge

  • m5.2xlarge

  • c5.2xlarge
  • c5.4xlarge
  • c5.9xlarge
  • c5n.2xlarge
  • c5n.4xlarge
  • c5n.9xlarge
  • g3.4xlarge
  • p3.2xlarge

 

SBC SWe Cloud for GCP

SBC SWe Cloud Requirements for GCP 

  • The GCP release image is called sbc-v07-02-03s400-connexip-os-06-02-03-s400-344-amd64. 

  • The SBC Boot disk requires a 65 GiB disk size.
  • Only SSD disk types are supported.

Note
  • Only Sandybridge and Broadwell processor types are supported.
  • Only one private IP and one public IP can be associated per interface.
  • Template-based deployment not supported in this release.


SBC SWe for GCP

Types of HFE Nodes

Ribbon supports the following type of HFE:

  • HFE 2.0 - Single HFE node.
  • HFE 2.1 - Split into two instances (one for public traffic, and the other for private traffic).

For more information, refer to 7.2.3S400 Configure the HFE Node.

OS for HFE Nodes

HFE nodes support the following operating systems:

  • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, 19.xx
  • Debian 9/10
  • CentOS 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

Unlike prior releases, there is no dependency on Ubuntu. All resources related to HFE instance creation and configuration are available in /opt/HFE, instead of /home/ubuntu/HFE.

The only requirements for an OS supported for HFE nodes are as follows:

  • Package managers - apt, or yum.
  • The application "Google Metadata Script Runner" is available on the system.

The script HFE_GCE.sh is updated accordingly.

For more information, refer to the section "Supported OS for HFE" in the page 7.2.3S400 Configure the HFE Node.

HFE Nodes - Support for OS Upgrades and Security Patches

Ribbon tested the following upgrade scenarios on the HFE node, using ICMP packets to contact the PKT0/PKT1 ports on the SBC:

  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS > 18.04 LTS

  • Ubuntu 19.04 > 19.10

  • Debian 9 > Debian 10

  • Installation of all updates available on CentOS 8.

For more information, refer to the section "Support for HFE node OS Upgrades and Security Patches" in the page 7.2.3S400 Configure the HFE Node.

HFE Startup Scripts

Ribbon recommends using the term "startup script" as a replacement for "user-data". The startup scripts are shell scripts containing preconfigured variables that are necessary for the Metadata of an HFE node.

The startup scripts are updated to remove dependency on Ubuntu.

For more information, refer to the following pages:

For examples of valid json formats, refer to the section "User Data" in the page 7.2.3S400 Configure SBC in GCP.

SBC HA with HFE and Terraform

To create SBC HA instances with Terraform modules, you can use either HFE 2.0, or HFE 2.1.

For more information, refer to the following pages:

Required Software Versions

The following SBC software versions are required for this release:

Required Software Versions

Components

Software/Firmware

Version

SBC Application

 

 

Operating System (OS) Version

V06.02.03-S400
SonusDB

V07.02.03-S400

SBC Application

V07.02.03-S400

EMAV07.02.03-S400

How to Verify Currently Installed Software Versions

Use the EMA to verify the currently installed software versions.

Log on to the EMA, and from the main screen navigate to Monitoring > Dashboard >  System and Software Info.

Upgrade Notes

Warning

A software upgrade on SBC SWe should only be performed during periods of lower call activity. If the total number of active calls approaches the capacity limit of the SWe during upgrade, a double failure may occur tereby losing all active calls. If such a failure occurs, both active and standby SBC services will go down. Contact Ribbon Support immediately.

Note

Release 7.2 of AWS requires that prior to upgrade you must update the user-data to include SSH keys for the admin account, and provide settings to enable creation of Linux cgroups to support 3rd Party application (cgroup only if needed). Please refer to the procedures in AWS SBC Software Upgrade Support.

Note

As an SBC Core password security enhancement, user passwords automatically expire after upgrading to 7.2.x. As a result, users are required to change their passwords upon initial login immediately following the upgrade.

Note

Once installed, resizing instances in AWS and GCP is not supported.

Supported Live Software Upgrade (LSWU) Paths

ATTENTION

This release includes all bug fixes implemented in the releases which are documented in the Supported Upgrade Paths table of this release note.
To view bug fixes in previous releases, refer to the release note(s) of interest from the SBC 5xx0-7000-SWe Documentation Home page .

 

The following are the supported upgrade paths for this release.

7.00.0S4067.2.3S400
7.02.0S4007.2.3S400
7.02.1S4007.2.3S400

New Features

New features in 07.02.03S400 Release

The SBCs can be instantiated on the Google Cloud Platform. See 7.2.3S400 SBC in Google Cloud Platform for details.

New Features in Past Releases

For features included in past releases, refer to:

Instantiating and Upgrading

Instantiating SBC SWe on Public Cloud (S400)

For more information on Instantiating SBC SWe on Public Cloud, refer to Instantiating SBC SWe on Public Cloud (7.2S400).

Upgrading SBC SWe Public Cloud Instances (S400)

For more information on Upgrading SBC SWe Public Cloud Instances, refer to Upgrading SBC SWe Public Cloud Instances (7.2S400)

Resolved Issues

Resolved Issues in 07.02.03S400 Release 

There are no resolved issues in this release.

Known Issues

Known Issues in 07.02.03S400 Release

The following issues exist in this release:

Known Issues

Issue IDSevProblem DescriptionImpact / Workaround
SBX-965932

Using the IaC release, the iac-1.0-20190913-030702 installs the SBC in a GCP using the v0.1 and v1beta metadata, which has been reached end of life. As per a notice, the v0.1 and v1beta metadata may stop responding.

Platform/Feature: SBC

Impact: The warnings are thrown during the launch of the instance and it does not impact functionality.

Workaround: No workaround is available.


Known Limitations

The following limitations exist in this release:

  • This release supports Amazon Web Services(AWS) deployment with Ribbon SBC. 
  • This release also provides limited support for Google Cloud Platform(GCP) with Ribbon SBC - contact Ribbon before attempting to deploy SBC in GCP.
  • Only standalone SBC is supported on GCP.
  • Only a four VCPU instance profile (with 15GiB memory and Intel Broadwell or later CPU) is supported on GCP
  • Upgrade Support is limited. 
    • Only latest AWS field release SBC Release 07.00.00S406 to AWS SBC Release 07.02.03S400 is supported. 
    • Upgrade of GCP instances is not supported.
  • As of release 7.2S400, only following Instance types are supported for deployment in AWS:

    • m5.xlarge

    • m5.2xlarge

    • c5.2xlarge
    • c5.4xlarge
    • c5.9xlarge
    • c5n.2xlarge
    • c5n.4xlarge
    • c5n.9xlarge
    • g3.4xlarge
    • p3.2xlarge

  • Third party CPU reservation of more than 2 vCPU is not supported on p3.2xlarge instances due to the vCPU requirement of the Standard_GPU_Profile.
  • The Access Control List (ACL) is not installed to configure SNMP traps for accepting traffic. A dynamic ACL is added to configure SNMP
    traps. An ACL must be installed for SNMP traps for accepting traffic.
  • The HA interface must not be configured with link local address or subnet. For example, do not configure it with 169.254.0.0/16 subnet.
  • EMS identifies the nodes based on the VNFC-ID. While instantiating SBC/PSX cloud nodes, ensure that you use a unique VNFC-ID only.
    If you reuse an existing VNFC-ID, EMS treats this as a re-registration request and overwrites the existing data on the cloud node.
  • Editing IP Interface is not reflected in the if configuration (ifConfig). This behavior is observed only on the S-SBC when action is set to
    "dryup" mode on the IP Interface. The IP address changes are not updated in the kernel and will not be displayed when ifconfig linux
    command is executed. In case of S-SBC, if the ipInterface configuration needs to be modified and if the action is set to "dryup" in
    ipInterface configuration, it must be set to "force" before disabling the ipInterface and making any changes.
  • Multiple-IP Support on AWS - For the SBC (SWe) supported instance types in AWS, there is a known limitation for Maximum number of IP's per interface to just 7. This is because AWS currently only supports up to 7 IPs to be moved from active to standby in a single request. This stops us from supporting more than 7 IPs in HFE and non-HFE based HA solution. Resolution of this issue would come from AWS. 
  • Troubleshooting tools CDR viewer and Elastic Search are not supported on AWS SBC SWe instances.

  • Due to a known EMA GUI issue, it can take up to 10 minutes to process each SMM rule when provisioning SMM on the SBC using the EMA. This will be fixed in a future release.

Restricted Functionality with SBC in Public Cloud Release

 The following functionalities are not supported with SBC Public Cloud:

  • Far end NAT traversal
  • NICE
  • Rx, Rf interfaces
  • Multimedia - MSRP, BFCP  
  • Fax detection
  • ICE/STUN
  • SIP REPLACE

  • H323 support

  • GW signaling support

Restricted Functionality with SBC for AWS

The following functionalities are not supported with SBC for AWS:

  • The EC2 does not support VM console. The SSH must be used to access the VM.
  • The smarctl disk status is not supported on Amazon instance.
  • All the networking ports must be in different subnets.
  • The instance creation and reboot process take approximately 4 to 6 minutes to complete.
  • IP spoofing or L2 learning is not supported.
  • If VPC endpoint is not configured for communication to AWS services for the SBC. It is required to associate an EIP on MGT0 for an HA, and the CFN template automatically assigns the EIP. This is required for communicating with AWS servers while instance switchover. The EIP switchover takes 15-20 seconds.

Restricted Functionality with SBC in GCP

  • Only Sandybridge and Broadwell processor types are supported.
  • Only one private IP and one public IP can be associated per interface.
  • Template-based deployment not supported in this release.