IMS Signaling

SEBASTIAN SCHUMANN
SLOVAK TELEKOM

Revision 3

12 MARCH 2014

BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA

Outline
Summary SIP & IMS Basics
IMS and its Services
Protocols

Service Triggering
Q/A

Note!
These slides only summarize the lecture. Take notes.
Fixed agenda: IMS Signaling
Besides that:

Ask questions (how is it done in real-world, how did Slovak

Telekom do it)
Interrupt (I dont understand, can you provide samples, can
we skip that)
Contribute (Ive heard/read that, Im interested in)
Discuss

Summary SIP & IMS Basics

Reference to SUHYLRXV lecture.

SIP Overview
Protocol overview
Basic architecture

Types of servers
Separated by basic functionality

Request methods, responses, call flows

Session Description Protocol (SDP)

IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)

Basic overview
Architecture

Horizontally layered approach

Functional elements

Flow details

Registration
Basic call setup

IMS and its Services

Technology Trends
Services

Service & Network Control

(QoS, Security, IP Mobility)

CATV

Data/IP Networks

PSTN/ISDN

Mobile Networks

Existing and newly

emerging services

IP Backbone

Wireless
Access

Wireline
Access

Access Transport & Switching Networks

Too costly, per-service network
architecture

Single/simple/cost-effective network
infrastructure for existing & new services

IMS: Simplified Concept

Service Architecture
Applications/Services
Plane

Core
Network
Session
Control Plane

Web Portal

Application
Servers

Session
Control

Centralized
Databases
HSS

CSCF

Access
Networ
k

Access & Transport

Plane

Media
Server
Media
Control &
Gateways
Other
Networks

Recapitulation
IMS is an open architecture for mobile and fixed services
The core and its services are independent from the access
Layered architecture
Transport, session control, applications
Transparency through standard interfaces

Session Control Layer

End point registration, authentication

Session establishment, routing, interconnect

Application Layer
Service Logic

Recapitulation ctd.
Service Control Layer

SIP: P/I/S-CSCF, (BGCF, I-BCF, MRFC, AS)

Diameter: HSS, (RACS/NASS, PCRF)

Application Layer

SIP/Diameter interface towards service control layer

SIP/XCAP interface (based on HTTP) towards UE
Call related application logic
IMS service (e.g. Presence, PoC)
Service Creation Environment
Northbound integration through service APIs

IMS entities

(Wiley, The IMS Concepts and Services)

Session management and routing family (CSCFs)

Databases (HSS, SLF)
Services (e.g. AS)

Support functions (PDF, SEG, THIG)

Charging
Interworking functions (BGCF, MGCF, IMS-MGW, SGW)

Core nodes
CSCF components separate logical functionality

P-CSCF eq. SIP Proxy. It acts as access point for UE towards the
IMS core.
I-CSCF eq. Inbound Proxy. It is placed on the borders of two
IMS domains. Entry point for served home users from visited
networks.
S-CSCF eq. SIP Registrar/Location Server. It also acts as an
anchor point for IMS service control (ISC) and service
invocation (based on iFCs).

HSS contains all subscriber and service related data

No special entity in basic SIP (simply: user database)

Session Management & Routing

Proxy-CSCF User contact point with the IM CN

SIP compression, IPSec association, PDF interaction

Interrogating-CSCF Subscriber contact point

Next-hop lookup from HSS, S-CSCF assignment and
routing, THIG functionality

Serving-CSCF Service profile internal procedures

Handling registration, challenging UE, routing decisions
Responsible for Registration and Session Establishment,
Charging Data Generation, Media content check

Databases
HSS

Data storage for all subscriber and service-related data

SLF

Find HSS address for multiple HSS environment

Application Server
SIP Application Server

Stand-alone AS
Northbound integration using various protocols possible,
e.g., HTTP REST, Parlay X

Open Service Access (OSA) gateway

Connect northbound to OSA Parlay based AS

IM Service Switching Function (SSF)

Connect northbound the AS layer to legacy services using

IN protocols (e.g. INAP, CAMEL)

Other real-world components

Resource and Admission Control Subsystem (RACS)

Mechanisms for applications to request and reserve the

resources from access network (Session Admission Control,
resource reservation)

Network Attachment Subsystem (NASS)

Registration and initialization of CPE for access to IMS services

(IP addresses and configuration, user authentication)

Policy and Charging Control (PCC) framework

Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF)
Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF)

Protocols (extract)
Signaling

SIP (signaling protocol)

SDP (embedded in SIP, describes the session, negotiation)

Media

RTP (end-to-end media delivery (audio, video))

MSRP (messaging, file transfer)

DNS
Diameter (AAA)
IPSec (secure communication)
MEGACO (media gateway control)

Protocols

User Identities
User identities

Private User Identity (user@realm)

Authentication and Subscription identification

Not used for routing

Public User Identity (sip:user@domain.tld or tel:+1234567890)

Contact to be reached by others
SIP URI or tel URI

Implicit set of public user identities for grouping

registration
Services and other network entities can be addressed
using a SIP URI
User identities are part of the user profile

Relations
between
identities

Public
UID 1
Private
UID 1
IMS
Subscriber

Private
UID 2

Public
UID 2
Public
UID 3

.
.
.
Public
UID n

Implicit Set

IMS Registration
Required before a user can access services or perform
calls
Precondition: UE has IP address & knows IMS entry point
All CSCF are used
P-CSCF (home/visited): Entry point, determines I-CSCF
I-CSCF (home): Determines S-CSCF
S-CSCF (home): Authenticates the subscriber, registers IMS
subscriber, interacts with service layer

User assigned to one S-CSCF after successful registration

Knows user profile until de-registration

Registration
(simplified)

DNS

UE

P-CSCF

Domain Name Service

Link IP addresses with domain names
Support in locating SIP servers (NAPTR, SRV, A/AAAA)
NAPTR resolves the preferred protocol and the DNS
string to locate the service
ngnlab.eu. 7200 IN NAPTR 10 50 "s "SIP+D2T _sip._udp.ngnlab.eu.

SRV look-up for a NAPTR given address indicates the

domain and port the service listens on
_sip._udp.ngnlab.eu. 7200 IN SRV 0 0 5060 icscf.ngnlab.eu.

A/AAAA to find the IP address of the domain name

icscf.ngnlab.eu. 7200 IN A 147.175.103.213

Registration
(simplified)

DNS

UE

P-CSCF

HSS

I-CSCF

S-CSCF

Important SIP additions

P-Access-Network-Info includes port location/cell

From/To eq. IMPU

Path informs S-CSCF about routing destination for terminating requests
Collected during registration using INVITE (e.g. P-CSCF)
Populated to Route headers in in-registration terminating requests on S-CSCF

Authorization contains IMPI and other values

200 OK Service-Route to populate S-CSCF address to P-CSCF for
originating requests
Populated to Route headers in in-registration originating requests on UE

Important SIP additions ctd.

Choose a registered IMPU for session establishment
UE P-CSCF: P-Preferred-Identity
P-CSCF I/S-CSCF : P-Asserted-Identity

P-Associated-URI informs client about registered

IMPUs
Event: reg after registration to inform UE about
events on S-CSCF (e.g. HSS-initiated deregistration)

IMS Session Establishment

After registration, subscriber is reachable through
public user identity for communication
IMS subscriber can access services now or perform
calls
P-CSCF (home or local)
Proxy, contacts assigned S-CSCF for the calling subscriber

S-CSCF (home)

Service control and logic

Contacts application or other party

I-CSCF

Entry point for communication from other domain

Session
establishment
outgoing
(simplified)

DNS

UE

P-CSCF

S-CSCF

I-CSCF

Session
establishment
incoming
(simplified)

HSS

I-CSCF

S-CSCF

P-CSCF

To simplify matters, DNS is omitted in these slides.

UE

Message Session Relay Protocol

(MSRP)
Message content within a SIP session (similar to RTP)
Rendezvous mechanism mandatory (e.g. SDP)
MSRP URIs
Accepted content

SDP
c=IN IP4 atlanta.example.com
m=message 7654 TCP/MSRP *
a=accept-types:text/plain
a=path:msrp://atlanta.example.com:7654/jshA7weztas;tcp

MSRP ctd.

MSRP exchange
MSRP a786hjs2 SEND
To-Path: msrp://biloxi.example.com:12763/kjhd37s2s20w2a;tcp
From-Path: msrp://atlanta.example.com:7654/jshA7weztas;tcp
Message-ID: 87652491
Byte-Range: 1-25/25
Content-Type: text/plain
Hey Bob, are you there?
-------a786hjs2$
MSRP a786hjs2 200 OK
To-Path: msrp://atlanta.example.com:7654/jshA7weztas;tcp
From-Path: msrp://biloxi.example.com:12763/kjhd37s2s20w2a;tcp
-------a786hjs2$

MSRP ctd.
Key concepts

Framing/message chunking (+ vs $)
MSRP Addressing (URIs for send/recv, lists for relays)
Scheme: msrp/msrps for TLS. TCP transport.
Methods (e.g. SEND) and response codes (e.g. 200 OK)

MSRP relays in the path

More in RFC 4975 (protocol), RFC 4976 (relays)

Messaging/Presence
SIP MESSAGE
SIP SIMPLE

SIP SUBSCRIBE/NOTIFY

SIP PUBLISH
Many extensions
Standard bodies: IETF, OMA

Service Triggering

Application Layer Interaction

User profile contains service profile
Service Profile

Public Identification (assigned subscribers)

Initial Filter Criteria (triggering AS interaction)

Initial Filter Criteria (iFC)

Trigger points with service point triggers

(conditions when to interact)
Application server (SIP URI for interaction)

Service Profile

Service Profile
ctd.

Triggering

Triggering
ctd.

Filtering
Only initial SIP requests
Initial filter criteria (iFC) retrieved from HSS during
registration

Subsequent filter criteria (sFC) provided by

application server (beyond 3GPP R8)

Allows dynamic definition of trigger points during

application runtime

Application Routing
I/S-CSCF are interaction points with the service layer
I-CSCF for public service identities (PSI) explicit access
S-CSCF for services (of served users) implicit access

Applications have interface towards HSS

User profile information
Location information, service information

Complexity of security, authorization, access

interaction etc. all handled by the core

Application Routing ctd.

Application server (AS) can have different functions
Terminating AS (e.g., acting as user agent)
Originating AS (e.g., wake up service, click to dial)
SIP Proxy server (e.g., for SIP header manipulation)
Back-to-back user agent (e.g., for deeper modifications in
SIP dialog as supplementary service enabler)

Q/A

Your Questions!

Is anything still unanswered?

How do IMS services work?
Why is the IMS needed for some communications services?
Is it?
But I have heard of service X, why dont they use the IMS?
Will we build all future services on top of IMS?
Are IMS services only those inherited from the Telco past?
Will Telcos deploy multiple IMS? IMS in the cloud? Share an
IMS?
Will IMS bring in new revenues? Is it cheaper to deploy
services on the IMS compared to stand-alone deployments?

Summary
Deepen understanding of CSCF/HSS roles

Function of components
Routing within control layer and towards applications

Understanding IMS user identities

Service control, routing, application layer interaction
Many things omitted in this presentation

Network access layer, IMS reference points names

S-CSCF assignments in detail, SLF/HSS separation
QoS resource reservation
PSTN Breakout
Charging

Hopefully covered all open questions (last chance )

Thank you.
SEBASTIAN SCHUMANN
MAIL@S-SCHUMANN.COM
@S_SCHUMANN
SSCHUMANN

Download
This lecture is available at the following link:
http://bit.ly/fiit-ims-signaling-3

References
All references are stated on the respective slides.
If you feel that content where you hold the
copyright is displayed within these slides and you
do not like it, miss a link/reference, or want me to
remove it altogether please let me know.