2.1   General Impact for vMRF 1.1

This section describes the general impact for the release.

2.1.1   Backward Compatibility

The enhanced functionality is backward compatible.

2.1.2   Capacity and Performance

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 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 release.

2.2.1   Backward Compatibility

Signaling subnet stacks created in previous releases are not upgrade compatible. vMRF configuration can be imported from previous releases.

2.2.2   Capacity and Performance

No impact.

2.2.3   Operation

The 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 deployment, 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 software delivery package must be prepared with site-specific data, and vMRF 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:

• mrsv_ prefix parameters have been replaced with mrf_ prefix

The following new features are introduced:

• Network-redundant upgrade method
• Workflow-based VNF Life Cycle Management (VNF-LCM)

2.3   General Impact for vMRF 1.3

This section describes the general impact for therelease.

2.3.1   Backward Compatibility

The enhanced functionality is backward compatible.

2.3.2   Capacity and Performance

No impact.

2.3.3   Operation

The following new features are introduced:

• Support for the Enhanced Voice Services (EVS) codec

The following enhanced features are introduced:

• VNF Life Cycle Management enhancement: Upgrade workflow

2.7.1   Other Network Elements in vMRF 1.1

2.7.1.1   General

The lowest interoperable releases are described in Table 1.

2.7.1.1.1   Multimedia Telephony Application Server (MTAS)

vMRF 1.1 is compatible with the following MTAS releases: 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4.

2.7.1.1.2   Virtual Multimedia Telephony Application Server (vMTAS)

vMRF 1.1 is compatible with the following vMTAS release: 16A.

2.7.1.1.3   OSS-RC

vMRF 1.1 is compatible with the following OSS-RC release: 17B.

2.7.2   Other Network Elements in vMRF 1.2

2.7.2.1   General

The lowest interoperable releases are described in Table 2.

2.7.2.1.1   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.

2.7.2.1.2   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.

2.7.2.1.3   OSS-RC

vMRF 1.2 is compatible with the following OSS-RC releases: 17B, 18A.

2.7.3   Other Network Elements in vMRF 1.3

2.7.3.1   General

The lowest interoperable releases are described in Table 3.

2.7.3.1.1   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.

2.7.3.1.2   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.

2.7.3.1.3   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

2.7.3.1.4   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.

2.7.3.1.5   Network License Server (NeLS)

vMRF 1.3 is compatible with the following NeLS release: 1.

3.1   Interfaces in vMRF 1.1

This section describes the introduced interface changes.

3.1.1   Inter-node Interfaces

There are no changes to the inter-node interfaces.

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 7 shows the deleted alarms.

3.1.2.2.2   New Alarms

Table 8 shows the new alarms.

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 9 shows the alarms that have been converted into events.

3.1.2.4   Counters

There are no changed, deleted, deprecated, obsolete, or new counters.

3.2   Interfaces in vMRF 1.2

This section describes the introduced interface changes.

3.2.1   Inter-node Interfaces

There are no changes to the inter-node interfaces.

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 changed or deleted events and notifications.

3.2.2.3.1   New Events

The new events are shown in Table 10.

3.2.3   Counters

There are no changed, deleted, deprecated, obsolete, or new counters.

3.3   Interfaces in vMRF 1.3

This section describes the introduced interface changes.

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 11.

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.

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

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).

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.

5.1.2   Troubleshooting Enhancements

5.1.2.1   Description

The h.248 error codes are now expanded with descriptive text strings.

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

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

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:

• 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

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

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.