Contents
1 Introduction
The Network Impact Report (NIR) describes how the current release of Virtual Multimedia Resource Function (vMRF) with new and changed features affects the previous release of vMRF and the operator's overall network, including all affected products and functions.
The purpose of this document is to provide sufficient information at an early stage to Ericsson system operators to help them plan the introduction of new products and upgrades to their networks.
This document is a living document and is subject to change during the development of the new release. Therefore, part of the information may be incomplete or unavailable until General Availability (GA) of the new vMRF release.
2 General Impact
This section describes the general impact for the various vMRF releases.
2.1 General Impact for vMRF 1.1
This section describes the general impact for the vMRF 1.1 release.
2.1.1 Backward Compatibility
The enhanced functionality in the vMRF 1.1 is backward compatible.
2.1.2 Capacity and Performance
In vMRF 1.1 hyperthreading support has been introduced. When hyperthreading is in use, vMRF VMs are deployed by allocating two vCPUs per each physical CPU core. The use of hyperthreading increases the capacity of a single physical CPU core up to 20%. It is recommended to use hyperthreading, in which case only even VM flavor sizes are supported.
2.1.3 Operation
The following port number changes are introduced in vMRF 1.1 due to alignment with other IMS nodes:
- Cluster internal network port is moved to eth0
- O&M port is moved to eth1
- Signaling port is moved to eth2
2.2 General Impact for vMRF 1.2
This section describes the general impact for the vMRF 1.2 release.
2.2.1 Backward Compatibility
vMRF 1.2 does not have upgrade compatibility with signaling subnet stacks created in previous releases. vMRF configuration can be imported to vMRF 1.2 from previous releases.
2.2.2 Capacity and Performance
No impact.
2.2.3 Operation
The vMRF 1.2 release includes parameter name changes in HOT and example environment files included in the software delivery package. Due to this, the example_environment.yaml from previous vMRF releases cannot be used when creating subnets. Before the deployment of vMRF 1.2, the old vMRF configuration must be backed up to a cluster-external storage, and the old vMRF stack and signaling subnet stack must be deleted. The example_environment.yaml file included in the vMRF 1.2 software delivery package must be prepared with site-specific data, and vMRF 1.2 must be deployed as described in the relevant manual deployment guides. After deployment, the previously exported configuration can be imported.
The following parameter changes are introduced in vMRF1.2:
- mrsv_ prefix parameters have been replaced with mrf_ prefix
The following new features are introduced in vMRF 1.2:
2.3 General Impact for vMRF 1.3
This section describes the general impact for the vMRF 1.3 release.
2.3.1 Backward Compatibility
The enhanced functionality in the vMRF 1.3 is backward compatible.
2.3.2 Capacity and Performance
No impact.
2.3.3 Operation
The following new features are introduced in vMRF 1.3:
- Support for the Enhanced Voice Services (EVS) codec
The following enhanced features are introduced in vMRF 1.3:
- VNF Life Cycle Management enhancement: Upgrade workflow
2.4 Other Network Elements
2.4.1 Other Network Elements in vMRF 1.1
2.4.1.1 General
The lowest interoperable releases for vMRF 1.1 are described in Table 1.
|
15B | |
|
vMTAS |
16A |
|
OSS-RC |
17B |
2.4.1.1.1 Multimedia Telephony Application Server (MTAS)
vMRF 1.1 is compatible with the following MTAS releases: 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4.
2.4.1.1.2 Virtual Multimedia Telephony Application Server (vMTAS)
vMRF 1.1 is compatible with the following vMTAS release: 16A.
2.4.1.1.3 OSS-RC
vMRF 1.1 is compatible with the following OSS-RC release: 17B.
2.4.2 Other Network Elements in vMRF 1.2
2.4.2.1 General
The lowest interoperable releases for vMRF 1.2 are described in Table 2.
|
16A | |
|
vMTAS |
16A |
|
OSS-RC |
17B |
2.4.2.1.1 Multimedia Telephony Application Server (MTAS)
vMRF 1.2 is compatible with the following MTAS releases: 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, and 4.6.
2.4.2.1.2 Virtual Multimedia Telephony Application Server (vMTAS)
vMRF 1.2 is compatible with the following vMTAS releases: 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, and 1.6.
2.4.2.1.3 OSS-RC
vMRF 1.2 is compatible with the following OSS-RC releases: 17B, 18A.
2.4.3 Other Network Elements in vMRF 1.3
2.4.3.1 General
The lowest interoperable releases for vMRF 1.3 are described in Table 3.
|
16A | |
|
vMTAS |
16A |
|
OSS-RC |
17B |
|
ENM |
17B |
|
1 |
2.4.3.1.1 Multimedia Telephony Application Server (MTAS)
vMRF 1.3 is compatible with the following MTAS releases: 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 4.4, 4.5, and 4.6.
2.4.3.1.2 Virtual Multimedia Telephony Application Server (vMTAS)
vMRF 1.3 is compatible with the following vMTAS releases: 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, and 1.6.
2.4.3.1.3 OSS-RC
vMRF 1.3 is compatible with the following OSS-RC releases: 17B, 18A.
Full functionality support for vMRF 1.3 is provided by the following OSS-RC release: 18A
2.4.3.1.4 Ericsson Network Manager (ENM)
vMRF 1.3 is compatible with the following ENM release: 17B
Full functionality support for vMRF 1.3 is provided by the following ENM release: 18A.
2.4.3.1.5 Network License Server (NeLS)
3 Interfaces
This section describes interface changes between the existing and new revisions of the product.
3.1 Interfaces in vMRF 1.1
This section describes interface changes introduced in vMRF 1.1.
3.1.1 Inter-node Interfaces
There are no changes to the inter-node interfaces in vMRF 1.1.
3.1.2 Operation and Maintenance
This section describes changes to attributes, alarms, events and notifications, triggers, and counters.
3.1.2.1 Configuration
This section lists changes in attributes. There are no changed, deprecated, obsolete, or new attributes.
3.1.2.2 Fault Management
This section lists changes in alarms.
3.1.2.2.1 Deleted Alarms
Table 4 shows the alarms deleted in vMRF 1.1.
|
Alarm Name |
|---|
3.1.2.2.2 New Alarms
Table 5 shows the new alarms introduced in vMRF 1.1.
|
Alarm Name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
The alarm is raised when IP auto-configuration of a media IP address in a VM fails, for example, if the DHCP client cannot obtain, renew, or rebind an IP address, or if the lease time of the IP address ends. | |
|
MRF Next Hop Router Unreachable |
The alarm is issued when connection from VM to next hop router is lost, that is, if a vMRF VM does not receive ARP reply (IPv4) or neighbor advertisement message (IPv6) from the next hop router before the response timer expires. |
3.1.2.3 Events and Notifications
This section lists changes in events and notifications. There are no changed or deleted events and notifications.
3.1.2.3.1 New Event and Notifications
Table 6 shows the alarms that have been converted into events in vMRF 1.1.
|
Event or Notification Name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Former alarm converted into event. | |
|
Former alarm converted into event. |
3.1.2.4 Counters
There are no changed, deleted, deprecated, obsolete, or new counters in vMRF 1.1.
3.2 Interfaces in vMRF 1.2
This section describes interface changes introduced in vMRF 1.2.
3.2.1 Inter-node Interfaces
There are no changes to the inter-node interfaces in vMRF 1.2.
3.2.2 Operation and Maintenance
This section describes changes to attributes, alarms, events and notifications, triggers, and counters.
3.2.2.1 Configuration
This section lists changes in attributes. There are no changed, deprecated, obsolete, or new attributes.
3.2.2.2 Fault Management
This section lists changes in alarms. There are no new, changed or deleted alarms.
3.2.2.3 Events and Notifications
This section lists changes in events and notifications. There are no new, changed or deleted events and notifications.
3.2.3 Counters
There are no changed, deleted, deprecated, obsolete, or new counters in vMRF 1.2.
3.3 Interfaces in vMRF 1.3
This section describes interface changes introduced in vMRF 1.3.
3.3.1 Inter-node Interfaces
3.3.2 Operation and Maintenance
3.3.2.1 Configuration
This section lists changes in attributes. There are no changed, deprecated, or obsolete attributes.
3.3.2.1.1 New Attributes
This section lists changes in attributes. There are no changed or deprecated attributes.
New attributes are listed in Table 7.
|
MO Class Name |
Attribute Name |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
evsConfDataMoRef |
Contains a reference to the EvsConfData MO instance associated with this MrfData MO. | |
|
supportedBitRatesRangeBegin |
Specifies the beginning of the supported bit rate range of EVS audio codec. | |
|
supportedBitRatesRangeEnd |
Specifies the end of the supported bit rate range of EVS audio codec. | |
|
supportedBwRange |
Specifies the supported audio bandwidth range of EVS audio codec. | |
|
maxSctpPduSize |
The maximum size of the SCTP PDU towards the Multimedia Telephony Application Server (MTAS). |
3.3.2.2 Fault Management
This section lists changes in alarms. There are no changed or new alarms.
3.3.2.3 Events and Notifications
This section lists changes in alarms. There are no changed, deleted or new alarms.
3.3.3 Counters
There are no new, changed, deprecated, or obsolete counters.
4 Summary of Impacts per Feature
This section summarizes the impact per feature when the feature is turned on.
The description of impact is as follows:
- Major Impact means that the feature has done an incompatible change so that another node requires an update.
- Minor Impact means that the feature has caused changes that affect other nodes, but with extra configuration, the previous behavior can be kept.
- No Impact means that the feature has no impact on the system.
A summary of impacts per feature is shown in Table 8.
|
Feature |
Impact |
Basic or Optional New or Enhanced |
Feature Number |
Relation to Other Features or Nodes |
Release of Feature Introduction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
IP Interconnect: Media Stream Processing Enhancements |
No Impact |
Basic, Enhanced |
FAJ 801 0880 |
None |
vMRF 1.1 |
|
Network-redundant upgrade method |
No Impact |
New, Optional |
– |
None |
vMRF 1.2 |
|
Workflow-based VNF operations |
No Impact |
New, Optional |
– |
None | |
|
Enhanced Voice Services |
No Impact |
New, Optional |
FAJ 801 0893 |
vMRF 1.3 | |
|
Workflow-based VNF operations enhancement: Upgrade workflow |
No Impact |
Enhanced, Optional |
– |
None |
5 Impact on vMRF Features
This section shows the impact on the vMRF features when the feature is turned on.
5.1 Impact on vMRF Features from vMRF 1.0 to vMRF 1.1
5.1.1 Media Stream Processing Enhancements
5.1.1.1 Description
In vMRF 1.1 the G.722 audio codec has been introduced. The G.722 codec operates at a sampling rate of 16 kHz and offers audio bandwidth ranging from 50 Hz up to 7 kHz. The G.722 codec supports Packet Loss Concealment (PLC).
In vMRF 1.1 adaptive jitter service has been introduced. In the beginning of the call the jitter buffer size is always the configured initial jitter buffer size, but during the call the jitter buffer size adapts to the measured jitter. Static jitter service is not supported in vMRF 1.1.
5.1.2 Troubleshooting Enhancements
5.1.2.1 Description
In vMRF 1.1 the h.248 error codes are now expanded with descriptive text strings.
In vMRF 1.1 hanging termination notification towards the controlling server has been introduced.
5.2 Impact on vMRF Features from vMRF 1.1 to vMRF 1.2
5.2.1 Upgrade Method Enhancements
5.2.1.1 Description
In vMRF 1.2 the network-redundant upgrade method has been introduced. Network-redundant upgrade can be performed when two vMRF VNFs are available in parallel during normal operation. During the upgrade procedure, one of them is upgraded to the new version, while the other one handles traffic uninterrupted.
5.2.2 Workflow-based VNF Life Cycle Management
5.2.2.1 Description
In vMRF 1.2 the workflow-based VNF Life Cycle Management (VNF-LCM) has been introduced as a primary method for VNF cluster management. The following workflow-based procedures are supported in vMRF 1.2:
- Instantiation
- Scaling (scale-in, scale-out)
- Termination
Scaling and termination of a vMRF VNF using VNF-LCM is only supported if the vMRF was instantiated using the LCM workflow. Manual scaling and the removal of the cluster must be performed only if the vMRF VNF was deployed manually.
5.3 Impact on vMRF Features from vMRF 1.2 to vMRF 1.3
5.3.1 Enhanced Voice Services
In vMRF 1.3 transcoding support for the EVS codec is introduced. EVS is a multi-rate audio codec that operates at 8 kHz, 16 kHz, 32 kHz, and 48 kHz sampling rates, and offers full audio bandwidth ranging from 20 Hz up to 20 kHz. EVS supports bit rates from 5.9 kbps to 128 kbps. EVS supports comfort noise generation and error concealment.
The use of EVS requires the Enhanced Voice Services capacity license and connection to a Network License Server (NeLS).
5.3.2 VNF Life Cycle Management Enhancement
In vMRF 1.3, the network-redundant upgrade LCM operation has been introduced. This procedure can be used to upgrade the vMRF VNF to a newer version even without traffic loss, if another VNF is in operation during the upgrade.