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To define a Diameter Routing profile, click on the New Configuration button and then select Diameter Routing profile in the menu.

Routing Tab


The Diameter Routing profile configuration - Routing tab

Peer Table

A Diameter Stack agent that uses the Diameter Routing profile maintains transport connections with all the hosts that are defined in the Peer table list. Connections and handshakes of hosts that are not in this list are rejected with the appropriate protocol errors. Note that will actively try to establish connections to any hosts that are included in this list, unless the  Do Not Create Outgoing Connections option is checked in the Diameter Stack agent.

ItemDescription

Hostname

The hostname (case sensitive) or IP address of a Diameter Identity.

For example: ggsn01.vendor.com.

Note
titleNote!

The content of the Origin-Host AVP in the answer commands from the specified peer should be identical to this value. If the values do not match, the MIM values published by the Diameter Stack agent that contain counters are not updated correctly. This may occur, for instance, if you have specified a hostname in this text box but the Origin-Host AVP contains an IP address. It is recommended that you consistently use either IP addresses or hostnames when configuring the Diameter profiles and agents.


Port

The port to connect to when initiating transport connections with a peer.

For example: 3868.

Protocol

The transport protocol to use when initiating a peer connection. The following settings are available:

  • TCP
  • TCP/TLS
  • SCTP

When TCP/TLS is selected, the Diameter Stack requires a secure connection from this host. You configure this feature by setting the Keystore Path and the Keystore Password in the Diameter Stack agent. For further information, see the section, Advanced Tab, in Diameter Stack Agent Configuration.

Note
titleNote!

SCTP must be installed on every EC host that uses the SCTP protocol. For installation instructions, see your operating system documentation.


Throughput Threshold

If throttling has been enabled for the peer, this field will show the configured threshold for when transmissions of request UDRs should be throttled. Throttled UDRs will be routed back into the workflow.

For example: 1.000 (which means a maximum of 1.000 UDRs/second will be transmitted). 

Note
titleNote!

Throttling will determine if and how the workflow will limit the number of requests and UDRs sent out from the workflow. For information regarding how to configure the Diameter agent to reject incoming requests or UDRs to the workflow, see the section, Diameter Too Busy in Diameter Stack Agent Configuration . 


On Connection from Unknown Peer

When unknown peers try to connect to the Diameter Stack, you can configure how such connection attempts are to be handled. You can choose from three options from the drop box:

  • Reject - Select this option to reject all connection attempts from unknown peers. This is the default option.
  • Accept Secure Connection - Select this option to accept connection attempts from unknown peers with TLS authentication.
  • Accept All - Select this option to accept all connection attempts from unknown peers.


To Add a Host

  1. In the Diameter Routing Profile , click on the Add button beneath the Peer Table .

    The Add Host dialog opens.

    The Diameter Routing Profile - Adding a Host


  2. Enter the host name and port for the host in the Hostname and Port fields.


  3. Select protocol in the Protocol drop-down-list.


  4. If you want to enable throttling for the peer, select the Enable Throttling check box, and then enter the maximum number of request UDRs per second you want the Diameter Stack agent to transmit to the peer in the Throughput Threshold (UDR/s) field.

    Note
    titleNote!

    Ensure that you handle the throttled UDRs in your APL code in the workflow in order to not loose any UDRs. 


  5. Click on the Add button and the host will be added in the Peer Table , and then click on the Close button to close the dialog when you are finished adding hosts. 

Anchor
RealmRoutingTable
RealmRoutingTable

Realm Routing Table

Realm-based routing is performed when the Destination-Host AVP is not set in a Diameter message. All realm-based routing is performed based on lookups in the Realm Routing Table.

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ItemDescription
Realm Routing Strategy

Diameter requests are routed to peers in the realms in accordance with the selected Realm Routing Strategy. The following settings are available:

  • Failover: For each realm, Diameter requests are routed to the first specified peer (primary) in the Hostnames cell, or the first host resolved by a DNS query. If the connection to the first peer fails, requests to this realm are routed to the next peer (secondary) in the cell, or next host resolved by a DNS query. Failback to the first peer (primary) is performed when possible.
  • Round Robin: Diameter requests are evenly distributed to all the specified peers in the Hostnames cell, or peers resolved by DNS queries. If the connection to a peer fails, the requests are distributed to the remaining hosts. This also applies when UDRs are throttled due to the settings in the Peer Table.

The table below contains examples of how Diameter requests are routed to the peers of a realm, with the Round Robin strategy, depending on the peer connection state:

Peer 1 Status

Peer 2 StatusPeer 3 StatusRoute Distribution
OKAYOKAYOKAYPeer 1, Peer 2, or Peer 3
OKAYOKAYSUSPECTPeer 1 or Peer 2
REOPENSUSPECTOKAYPeer 3
DOWNDOWNSUSPECTPeer 3
DOWNREOPENDOWNPeer 2
DOWNDOWNDOWNNone


Diameter request are not routed to peers that are specified in the ExcludePeers field of a RequestCycle UDR. For more information about the RequestCycle UDR, see the section, RequestCycleUDR in The Diameter Base Protocol.

Enable Dynamic Peer Discovery

Select this check box when you want to use DNS queries (dynamic peer discovery) to find peer hosts in realms. The queried peer host information is buffered by the Diameter Stack agent according to the TTL (time to live) parameter in the DNS records. When the TTL has expired, the agent will attempt to refresh the information. If the refresh fails, the buffered information will be deleted.

When Enable Dynamic Peer Discovery is selected, DNS queries are performed at:

  • • Workflow start
  • • After TTL Expiration
  • • Dynamic update of Diameter routing profile


Note
titleNote!

To make changes to this setting effective, you must restart the workflow(s).

If the DNS service is unavailable (server available but service down) when starting the workflow(s), the system log entry will indicate errors in realm lookups. In order to resume lookups in DNS, you need to dynamically update the routing table in the Diameter Stack agent when the DNS is available again. For information about how to dynamically update the routing table, see the section below, To Dynamically Update the Diameter routing profile.

For information about how to select DNS servers, see the section below, DNS tab.

Realm

The realm name (case sensitive) . Realm is used as primary key in the routing table lookup. If left empty, all the destination realms are valid for this route.

For example: address.com.

Applications

The applications that this route serves. This entry is a used as a secondary key field in the routing table lookup. If left empty all the applications are valid for this route.

For example: 3,4.

Hostnames

A list of all the peer hosts in the realm. The hostnames must be selected from the Peer Table.

When Node Discovery is set to Dynamic, you should leave this field empty.

Node Discovery

The method of finding the peer hosts in the realm:

Static - The peer hosts are specified in the Hostnames field of the Realm Routing Table.

Dynamic - The Diameter Stack agent uses DNS queries (dynamic peer discovery) to find the peer hosts. These queries may resolve to multiple IP addresses or hostnames. In order to use this setting, you may need to add DNS servers to the network interfaces of your system.

Note
titleNote!

Entries in the Realm Routing Table that have the Dynamic setting are ignored (not matched), unless Enable Dynamic Peer Discovery is selected.

When a DNS server resolves a realm to peer hosts, it may return fully-qualified DNS domain names with a dot at the end. These trailing dots are removed by the Diameter Stack agent.

To Add a Realm

  1. In the Diameter Routing Profile, click on the Add button beneath the Realm Routing Table.
    The Add Route dialog opens.

     
    The Diameter Routing profile - Adding a Realm
     

  2. Enter the realm name in the Realm text box.
     

  3. If the realm serves specific applications, click on the Add button beneath the Applications list box and specify the Application Id. Repeat this step for each application.
     

  4. You should only perform this step if Peer Discovery is set to Static and the peer hosts are to be specified in the Realm Routing Table. Click on the Add button beneath the Hostname list box and select a host from the drop-down list. Repeat this step for each host in the realm.
     

  5. If you specified the peer hosts of the realm in the previous step, select Static from Peer Discovery. If you want to use dynamic peer discovery instead, select Dynamic from this drop-down list.
     

  6. Click on the Add button and the realm will be added in the Realm Routing Table, and then click on the Close button to close the dialog when you are finished adding realms.

DNS Tab


The Diameter Routing profile - DNS tab

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If the DNS Servers list is empty, the Diameter Stack agent will use the file /etc/resolv.conf on the Execution Context host to select the DNS server. For information about how to configure resolv.conf, see your operating system documentation.

To Dynamically Update the Diameter Routing Profile

You can refresh the routing table of a Diameter Stack agent while a workflow is running. When the agent refreshes the routing table, it reads the updated Peer Table, Realm Routing Table and Realm Routing Strategy from the selected Diameter Routing Profile.

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 In the Workflow Monitor, double-click the Diameter Stack agent to open the Workflow Status Agent configuration.
 In the Command tab, select the Update Routing Table button to refresh the routing table.

Command Line Tool

 Run the following command:

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Info
titleExample - Reset Round Robin Selection


Code Block
languagetext
themeEclipse
mzsh mzadmin/<password> wfcommand Default.my_workflow Stack1 clearstrategystate


To Read the Realm Routing Table in APL

You can use the Diameter Stack MIM value Realm Routing Table to read the realm routing table of a Diameter Stack Agent from APL. The MIM value is of the map<string,map<string, list<string>>> type and is defined as a global MIM context type. The string values in the outer map contain the realm names (primary key). The string values of the inner map contain the applications (secondary key). The lists in the map contain the hostnames of the peers in the realm.

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