NewNet Diameter

Diameter is an "AAA" (Authorization, Authentication and Accounting) protocol. It is used for the following network services

  • Mobility/roaming
  • Validation of subscriber
  • Control of network resources
  • Charging and billing

It is the protocol of choice for 3GPP, 3GPP2 and TISPAN standards groups for subscription, policy and charging function in IMS

Base Diameter protocol is IETF standard, RFC 3588. It defines transport and session level management and support for basic accounting applications. It also provides means to define extensions by standards bodies and/or vendors.

NewNet Diameter implementation covers the base protocols as well as the most common extensions as listed below. It provides a high level User APIs to expedite the development of user applications. It is easily portable to any operating system but supports the most common OSs Solaris and Linux. It is designed to be highly scalable and builds on top of the D7 high availability framework. Both ipv4 and ipv6 are supported using either SCTP or TCP. Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol is supported for improved security.

Key Diameter Interfaces supported:

  • Sh - Interface between an AS (SIP AS or OSA CSCF) and an HSS
  • Dh - Interface between an AS (or HSS) and an SLF
  • Rf - Offline Charging Interface between an IMS Network Entity or an AS and CCF
  • Ro - Online Charging Interface between an AS or MRFC and the ECF
  • Cx - Interface between a CSCF and an HSS
  • Dx - Interface between a CSCF and an SLF
  • Gq - Reference Point between an P-CSCF and an PDF
  • Gx- Interface between an PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function) and PCEF
  • (Policy and Charging Enforcement Function)
  • Rx - Interface between a Charging Rules Function (CRF) and the Application Function (AF)
  • Px - Interface between an HSS and a Presentity (Presence Proxy)
  • Ph- Interface between an AS and a Presence Network Agent
  • Gy - Interface between a PCEF and an OCF
  • Gz - Interface between a PCEF and a CDF
  • Wx - Interface between the HSS and an AAA Server

Key RFCs supported:

  • RFC 3539: Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) Transport Profile
  • RFC 3588: Diameter Base Protocol
  • RFC 3589: Diameter Command Codes for Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 5
  • RFC 4005: Diameter Network Access Server Application
  • RFC 4072: Diameter Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) Application
  • RFC 4740: Diameter Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Application