5 Configuring an SMPP Signaling Server Unit

This chapter describes how to configure an Oracle Communications Service Controller SMPP Signaling Server Unit (SSU) using the Administration Console.

About the SMPP SSU

Service Controller uses the SMPP SSU to communicate with Short Message System Centers (SMSCs) through the Short Message Peer-to-Peer protocol.

When configuring the SMPP SSU, you set up the following:

About SMPP Network Entities

SMPP network entities are SMSCs to which the SMPP SSU routes submit_sm messages generated by IM-UIX-SMS.

You set up rules that define the following:

  • ID of the SMSCs to which the SMPP SSU routes the message

  • Alias to be set in the IM-UIX-SMS configuration to route the message to the SMSC with a specified ID. To provide continuous operation in situations when an SMSC fails, you can map the same alias to multiple SMSCs. If one of the specified SMSCs fails, the SMPP SSU routes the message to another SMSC mapped to the same alias.

  • Parameters of the heartbeat mechanism. Using this mechanism, the SMPP SSU regularly sends requests to an SMSC. If the SMPP SSU does not receive a response from the SMSC within the specified period, the SMPP SSU considers this SMSC inactive. The SMPP SSU does not send any further requests to this SMSC.

The SMPP SSU distributes messages among different SMPP network entities that share the same alias using the weighted load strategy. This strategy determines a network entity that receives a message based on the weight that you assign to the entity. The weight determines a relative share of the traffic that the network entity should receive. For example, you defined two entities whose weight is 100 and 200 correspondingly. The network entity with the weight of 100 receives 1/3 of the traffic, while the network entity with the weight of 200 receives the remaining 2/3 of the traffic.

If a network entity fails, the SMPP SSU redistributes the traffic among remaining networking entities according to their weight.

You can define a network entity that receives traffic if other network entities whose weight is greater than zero, fail. This entity is known as secondary network entity, and its weight is always zero. If in the example above, you add one more entity whose weight is set to zero, the SMPP SSU sends messages to this network entity only if the network entities whose weight is set to 100 and 200 correspondingly, fail.

If you define multiple network entities with secondary priority, the SMPP SSU distributes traffic equally among them.

The weighted load strategy enables you to control the traffic distribution depending on capabilities of network entities. For example, if a network entity runs a more powerful server, this entity can serve more traffic, then you would set its load weight relatively higher.

See "Configuring SMPP Network Entities" for more information.

About Incoming Routing Rules

Incoming routing rules define the IM-UIX-SMS instance to which the SMPP SSU routes a deliver_sm message received from the SMSC. For each rule, you define the following parameters:

  • Conditions:

    • Destination address

    • Service Type

  • Alias of the IM-UIX-SMS instance to which the SMPP SSU routes the message if both conditions are met

See "Configuring Incoming Routing Rules" for more information.

About SMSC Connections

To route a submit_sm message to an SMSC, you set up connection between the SMPP SSU and SMSCs. Setting up a connection requires configuration of the following parameters:

  • General parameters, which define parameters which are common for all connections to SMSCs.

  • SMSC connection parameters, which define settings required for each connection. When setting up a connection, you map SMSC IDs specified in SMPP Network Entities, to physical addresses of SMSCs.

See "Configuring SMSC Connections" for more information.

About Securing SMSC Connections

When communicating with SMSCs, Service Controller acts as an External Short Messaging Entity (ESME). A connection between an ESME and SMSC can be established if the ESME provides a proper password. To specify a password for a connection, you need to define the following:

  • In the credential store, you specify a password for the connection between Service Controller and SMSC. In addition, you specify a key under which Service Controller stores this password in the credential store.

  • When you set up a connection with an SMSC, you do not specify a password directly. Instead, in the ESME Credential Key parameter, you provide the credential store's key that you associated with the required password. See "Setting Up Connection Pools" for more information.

About Securing the Credential Store

You use the Credential Store to securely store, encrypt, and validate the credentials that Service Controller uses to communicate with SMSCs. For more information about how the Credential Store works and how you configure credentials, see a discussion on administering Credential Stores in Service Controller Security Guide.

Configuring SMPP Network Entities

To configure SMPP network entities:

  1. In the navigation tree in the domain navigation pane, expand OCSB.

  2. Expand the Signaling Tier node.

  3. Select the SMPP SSU node.

  4. In the SMPP SSU configuration pane, click the SSU SMPP tab and then the SMPP Network Entities subtab.

    The SMPP Network Entity configuration pane appears. This pane displays a table. The table contains rules that define to which SMSC the short message is routed. Each row in the table represents a single rule.

  5. To create a new rule, at the bottom of the SMPP Network Entities configuration pane, click New.

    The New dialog box appears.

  6. Fill in the fields described in Table 5-1.

    Table 5-1 SMPP Network Entities Parameters

    Field Descriptions

    Name

    Specifies the name of the rule.

    Alias

    Specifies the SIP URI of the IM to which the SMPP SSU routes an incoming session. The alias has the following format: SSU:IM-instance-name.IM-type@domain-id

    • IM-instance-name: IM instance name you specified when you added this IM in the IM configuration pane.

    • IM-type: Type of IM instance.

    • domain-id: Name of the Processing Domain or Processing Domain Group where the relevant IM or application is deployed. This parameter is required only when your Service Controller deployment includes two or more Processing Domains.

      Use the name given to the domain when it was created. This name is specified by the axia.domain.id property.

      Example:

      ssu:im_uix-sms.IMUIXSMS@processing-domain.1

      domain-id is required only if your deployment includes two or more Processing Domains.

    To provide continuous operation in situations when an SMSC fails, you can map the same alias to multiple SMSCs. If one of the specified SMSCs fails, the SMPP SSU routes the message to another SMSC mapped to the same alias.

    Weight

    Specifies the relative load weight for the network entity.

    Default value: 0

    Heartbeat

    Specifies whether the SMPP SSU uses the heartbeat mechanism to regularly check whether the SMSC is active.

    Possible values:

    • ON

    • OFF

    Default value: ON

    SMSC Identifier

    Specifies the ID of the SMSC to which the SMPP SSU routes the submit_sm message if the value of the Default SMSC Alias parameter set in the IM-UIX-SMS configuration and the value of the Alias parameter match.

    Response Timeout

    Specifies the time interval, in seconds, during which the SMPP SSU waits for a response from the SMSC.

    If the response timeout expires, and the SMPP SSU still does not receive a response, the SMPP SSU considers the SMSC inactive.

    Active Interval

    Specifies the time interval, in seconds, for sending heartbeat requests from the SMPP SSU to the SMSC. This field is used if the previous heartbeat test showed that the SMSC is active.

    Inactive Interval

    Specifies the time interval, in seconds, for sending heartbeat requests from the SMPP SSU to the SMSC. This field is used if the previous heartbeat test showed that the SMSC is inactive.

  7. Click Apply.

Configuring Incoming Routing Rules

To configure incoming routing rules:

  1. In the navigation tree in the domain navigation pane, expand OCSB.

  2. Expand the Signaling Tier node.

  3. Select the SMPP SSU node.

    The SMPP SSU configuration pane appears.

  4. In the SMPP SSU configuration pane, click the SSU SMPP tab and then the Incoming Routing Rules subtab.

    The Incoming Routing Rules configuration pane appears. This pane displays a table. The table contains rules that define to which instance of IM-UIX-SMS the deliver_sm message is routed. Each row in the table represents a single rule.

  5. To create a new rule, at the bottom of the Incoming Routing Rules configuration pane, click New.

    The New dialog box appears.

  6. Fill in the fields described in Table 5-2.

    Table 5-2 Incoming Routing Rules Parameters

    Field Descriptions

    Name

    Specifies the name of the rule.

    SMPP Destination Address

    Specifies the destination address to be set in the deliver_sm message.

    Service Type

    Specifies the service type to be set in the deliver_sm message.

    Alias

    Specifies the alias of the IM-UIX-SMS instance.

    The SMPP SSU routes the deliver_sm message to this instance if the destination address and service type set in the deliver_sm message match the values set in SMPP Destination Address and Service Type parameters.

  7. Click Apply.

Configuring SMSC Connections

You need to configure the following:

Configuring General Parameters

To configure general parameters:

  1. In the navigation tree in the domain navigation pane, expand OCSB.

  2. Expand the Signaling Tier node.

  3. Select the SMPP node.

  4. In the SMPP configuration pane, click the SMPP tab and then the General subtab.

  5. Fill in the fields described in Table 5-3.

    Table 5-3 General Parameters

    Field Descriptions

    protocolVersion

    Specifies the version of the SMPP protocol that the SMPP SSU uses to communicate with SMSCs.

    eventTimeoutMs

    Specifies the timeout for an incoming event in milliseconds.

    Default value: 10000

  6. Click Apply.

Setting Up Connection Pools

To configure connection parameters:

  1. In the navigation tree in the domain navigation pane, expand OCSB.

  2. Expand the Signaling Tier node.

  3. Select the SMPP node.

  4. In the SMPP configuration pane, click the SMPP tab and then the SMSC subtab.

  5. Fill in the fields described in Table 5-4.

    Table 5-4 SMSc Connections Parameters

    Field Descriptions

    SMSC Identifier

    Specifies the ID of the SMSC for which you set up a connection.

    The value that you specify in this parameter must correspond to the SmscId parameter which you set in the SMPP Network Entities configuration.

    SMSC Address

    Specifies the host name or IP address of the SMSC to which the SMPP SSU routes a submit_sm message.

    SMSC Port

    Specifies the port of the SMSC to which the SMPP SSU routes a submit_sm message.

    ESME System ID

    Specifies the ID of the External Short Messaging Entity (ESME) that the SMPP SSU uses to bind to the SMSC.

    ESME Credential Key

    Specifies the key that the SMPP SSU uses to retrieve the ESME password from the credential store.

    ESME System Type

    Specifies the type of the ESME system that the SMPP SSU uses to bind to the SMSC.

    ESME Address Ton

    Specifies the Type Of Number of the ESME address that the SMPP SSU uses to bind to the SMSC.

    ESME Address NPI

    Specifies the Numbering Plan Indicator of the ESME address that the SMPP SSU uses to bind to the SMSC.

    ESME Address Range

    Specifies the range of the ESME address that SMPP SSU uses to bind to the SMSC.

    Default value: .*

    Local Address

    Specifies the local address (hostname or IP) used to connect to the SMSC.

    To use any address, leave this parameter empty.

    ESME Port

    Specifies the local TCP port used to connect to the SMSC. Use -1 for any port.

    Default value: -1

    Bind Type

    Specifies the type of connection to the SMSC.

    Possible values:

    • TRANSCEIVER

    • TRANSMITTER

    • RECEIVER

    Default value: TRANSCEIVER

    Connection Pool Size

    Specifies the size of the connection pool.

    Default value: 1

    Connection Timer (sec)

    Specifies the time, in seconds, that the SMPP SSU waits between connection attempts to the SMSC.

    Default value: 30

    Request Timeout (ms)

    Specifies the period, in milliseconds, that the SMPP SSU waits to consider the request timed out.

    Default value: 10000

    Enquire Link Timer (sec)

    Specifies the frequency, in seconds, with which the SMPP SSU sends a Enquire Link PDU on each SMSC connection. To disable sending a Enquire Link PDU, enter 0.

    Default value: 30

    Window Size

    Specifies the maximum number of pending requests for each TCP connection. To disable limitation, enter 0.

    Default value: 0

    Connection Acquire Timeout (ms)

    Specifies the timeout, in milliseconds, that the SMPP SSU waits for an available connection when no connections are currently available. This parameter is applicable only when the value of the windowSize parameter is greater than 0.

    Default value: 1000

    Target

    Specifies the name of the managed server to which this configuration applies. If you leave this parameter empty, the configuration applies to all managed servers.