:The 5G Session Management Function (SMF) is a fundamental element

of the 5G Service-Based Architecture (SBA). The SMF is primarily responsible

for interacting with the decoupled data plane, creating updating and removing
Protocol Data Unit (PDU) sessions and managing session context with the User
Plane Function (UPF).

: Both the UE and the gNB employs the Next Generation Application
Protocol (NGAP) to carry Non Access Stratum (NAS) messages across the N1
or N2 reference interfaces in order to request a new session. The Access and
Mobility Management Function (AMF) receives these requests and handles
anything to do with connection or mobility management while forwarding
session management requirements over the N11 interface to the SMF. The AMF
determines which SMF is best suited to handle the connection request by
querying the Network Repository Function (NRF). That interface and the N11
interface between the AMF and the specific SMF assigned by the NRF, use the
Service Based Interface (SBI) message bus, to which all Service-Base
Application elements are connected. The SBI message bus employs RESTful
API principles over HTTP/2 -- web technologies that dramatically simplify and
accelerate service deployments.