IMS Training

What is an SBC?
Session Border Controller is an element regularly used

VoIP networks, whose role is to control the signalling between service providers network and access (customers) network, and also between two different VoIP providers; Session: communication between two points session (e.g. call) is controlled by SBC Border: it is deployed at the edge of the VoIP network (border demarcation point) Controller : it controls communications (once again) provides access control, measurements, data conversion, modification of signalling messages, etc

Position of SBC in VoIP networks

Lets take a closer look to SBCs function

Security - protects the network (and devices inside)

Prevents DoS, DDoS attacks Topology hiding Encryption of signaling (TLS, IPSec) Encryption of media (SRTP)

Connectivity - allow different parts of the network to communicate

through the use of a variety of techniques NAT traversal SIP normalization via SIP message and header manipulation (SMM) IPv4 to IPv6 interworking Protocol translations between SIP, SIP-I, H.323
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 Quality of service QoS

Traffic policing Resource allocation Rate limiting Call admission control ToS/DSCP bit setting

Regulatory SBC can optionally provide regulatory

requierements emergency calls prioritization lawful interception

 Media services

DTMF relay and interworking Media transcoding Tones and announcements Data and fax interworking Support for voice and video calls

Statistics and billing information

Since all sessions that pass through the edge of the network pass

through the SBC, it is a natural point to gather statistics and usage based information on these sessions

Roles of SBC
Depending of the position where SBC is deployed, it can take different

roles SBC can be configured for more than one role at the same time Roles of SBC in access part of the network: A-ALG/P-CSCF IWF SPDF Role of SBC between two different networks:

IBCF IWF SPDF

3GPP Network Architecture for Fixed Access

A-ALG/P-CSCF
Forwarding of the SIP REGISTER request received from

the UE to an entry point determined using the home domain name, as provided by the UE Forwarding of SIP messages received from the UE to the SIP server (for example S-CSCF) Forwarding of the SIP request or response to the UE Generation of Accounting Charging Records (ACRs). SIP message compression/decompression Acting as an ALG by changing the appropriate SIP/SDP parameters

IWF
Typically, IWF is used for translation between H.323 and SIP

standard

IBCF
Controlling transport plane functions Supporting functions to allow the establishment of communication between SIP applications in disparate address realms Providing network configuration hiding to restrict the subsequent information from being passed outside of an operator's network: exact number of S-CSCFs, capabilities of S-CSCFs, or capacity of the network, and so on Screening of SIP signaling information based on source, destination, and operator policy Generation of Accounting Charging Records (ACRs)
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SDPF
Service Policy Decision Function (Tispan architecture only) Checks if the request information received from the AF is

consistent with the policy rules defined in the SPDF Authorizes the requested resources for the AF session Requests resources of the A-RACF/C-RACF Requests one or more services from the BGF Hides the details of the RACS from the AF Hides the details of the transport layer from the AF

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Media Proxy
Similar to SBC, which acts as a signalling proxy (in a signalling

plane), Media Proxy (MP) operates in the media plane Together with SBC forms an SBG (Session Border Gateway) SBC and MP communicate via standardized Ia interface, through H.248 protocol Relation between SBC and MP, is much like MGC and MGW

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SBG in an access network

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Thank you for your attention!

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