Configuring the Interface Between PCF and PCRF

The gRPC interface is configured on PCRF to accept the Diameter request. You can configure the gRPC interface by adding the com.broadhop.diameter2.local.cnat.feature to the /etc/broadhop/pcrf/features file.

Note

The com.broadhop.diameter2.local.cnat.feature capability is an additional requirement to the standard list of features that are required for 4G PCRF to be operational.

To enable the access, configure the following system properties using the existing "properties" CLI which is available through the engine node:

  • diameter grpc channel count integer : Specifies the number of gRPC channels that each diameter-ep replica opens toward a diameter-engine.

  • diameter group group stack stack grpc ext-svc ip ip-address port port : Indicates the externally accessible IP: Port for the diameter-ep service that belongs to the specified group and stack. This property enables the specified diameter-ep to receive incoming gRPC requests from diameter-engines outside the K8 cluster.

  • diameter group group stack stack diameter-engine alt-engines primary svc-name external-service-name port port : Indicates the external-service-name that refers to the service defined under the root level external-services CLI node. The port number corresponds to the port number on which the alternate primary engine is listening (for gRPC requests). This port number must be included in the list of port numbers for the configured external-service.

  • diameter group group stack stack diameter-engine alt-engines secondary svc-name external-service-name port port : Acts as the alternative for the primary diameter-engine that is configured for diameter group group stack stack diameter-engine alt-engines primary svc-name external-service-name port port . If PCF diameter-ep is unable to send the request to the primary engine, it reattempts sending the request on the secondary diameter-engine.

  • diameter group group stack stack diameter-engine alt-engines check-session-exists [ true | false] : Enables verification of the session's existence (using PCRF BindingDB/SkDB) before forwarding the request to the alternate engine. If this property is enabled and the session is not found on the alternate engines, then the message is sent to the local pcf-engine for error handling. By default, the property is configured as False.

  • external-services svc-name ips list of ip addresses ports list of ports : Holds the external service definition for services that exist outside the K8 cluster. This property creates an Egress or external K8 service that comprises of the IP addresses/port numbers which allows access to services outside the cluster. For example, alternate Diameter engines.

  • etcd external-ips list of IP addresses : Lists the externally accessible IP addresses for the etcd Diameter endpoint registry that enables access beyond the K8 cluster.