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Lte2 s1 Flex
Lte2 s1 Flex
Lte2 s1 Flex
Main Menu
Interdependencies
Technical Details Benefits and Gains
2 Interdependencies with Other Features
Functionality and Implementation, and Functions
Message Flows
5 Simulation, Lab and Field Findings
Configuration Management
3 Parameters
eNodeB
eNodeB
– Optional SW feature (no HW upgrade needed, license Pool Area 1 Pool Area 2
only).
For internal use
10 © Nokia Siemens Networks 2012
Main Menu
LTE2 – S1 Flex
Table of Contents
Interdependencies
Technical Details Benefits and Gains
2 Interdependencies with Other Features
Functionality and Implementation, and Functions
Message Flows
5 Simulation, Lab and Field Findings
Configuration Management
3 Parameters
Pool Area 2
Pool Area 1
MME pool
– set of MMEs that serve one or more MME pool area,
– takes advantage of load sharing concept (MME selection MME MME PoolPool
algorithm) and prevents:
overload: newly incoming requests will be distributed between
MMEs based on MME capacity weights,
failure: in case of failure, dropped calls can be reestablished
with the remaining MMEs.
• If S1 Flex is activated the eNB considers all MME(s) as allowed, for which an
associated IP address for MME is available.
– The eNB can establish towards each of the supported 16 MMEs one SCTP association,
– The eNBs SCTP endpoints are identified by the peer MME primary IP address and the SCTP port
number,
– The SCTP port number is bounded to one IP transport address,
– External IP Addresses of MME nodes are configurable at the eNB,
– It is possible to configure one separate IPSec Tunnel Address towards each MME node.
• If S1 Flex is deactivated the eNB shall consider only the “Main MME” as allowed
MME.
– Main MME is the MME assigned to the specified eNB.
Background informations:
• registeredMME – MME address (PLMN Id, MME Group, MME Code) (optional parameter
provided by the RRC message RRC CONNECTION SETUP COMPLETE),
For each UE, the eNB must select the MME to be used for S1 signaling
based on information provided by the UE and MME:
• MME selection is done based on either S-TMSI or registeredMME or SelectedPLMN-Identity
parameters.
• In most cases (state transitions, Tracking Area Updates), UE is already registered to one MME. In
these cases, UE provides information about MME address in the S-TMSI or registeredMME.
• If eNB cannot reach this MME (or UE is not registered to an MME), eNB will select the MME by the
SelectedPLMN-Identity provided by UE.
There are four possible cases for the parameter settings by the UE:
• Case A: UE provides the selectedPLMN-Identity and S-TMSI,
• Case B: UE provides the selectedPLMN-Identity and the registeredMME without the optional plmn-
Identity,
• Case C: UE provides the selectedPLMN-Identity and the registeredMME with the optional plmn-
Identity,
• Case D: UE provides the selectedPLMN-Identity, but no registeredMME,
For internal use
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Technical Details Table of Contents Main Menu
LTE2 – S1 Flex / MME selection algorithm
1. First eNB shall try to select a MME by the S-TMSI (if provided). If this fails, the MME
selection is aborted by an RRC connection release,
Note:
Load balancing algorithm and related details are given in next slides.
eNB selects one MME from the set for which the SelectedPLMN-Identity is in the list of
Served PLMNs:
• The load balancing is done per PLMN Id,
• For normal operation it is assumed that all MMEs of an MME pool have the same set of
PLMN Ids,
• The algorithm does not take into account the current number of S1 connections,
• The load balancing is only used for UEs with non-matching or missing registeredMME and
S-TMSI,
• The selection bases on weighting information provided by each MME during the S1 Setup,
Note:
(*) The relative MME capacity shall be ignored for the MME selection is case that there is only one MME available, i.e. more than one MME
has been configured but only one MME is reachable. This is a non 3GPP compliant behaviour. The change shall be not documented in the
regular customer documentation. (CRL0737 USSC S1 Flex behavior)
For internal use
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Technical Details Table of Contents Main Menu
LTE2 – S1 Flex / MME selection based on load balancing algorithm
Inputs:
• SelectedPLMN-Identity of UE,
• Served PLMNs list of PLMNs served by MME,
• WMMEi – weight factor of MMEi.
Interim values:
• n – number of active MMEs for which the Selected PLMN-Identity is in Served PLMNs list,
• Wsum – sum of all weights:
n
Wsum WMME ,i
i 1
0 ,WMME ,1 1,m 1
I m m1
m
i 1
WMME ,i , WMME ,i 1 , m 2 ,..., n
i 1
• random - Random value from the interval [0...Wsum-1]
For internal use
21 © Nokia Siemens Networks 2012
Technical Details Table of Contents Main Menu
LTE2 – S1 Flex / MME selection based on load balancing algorithm
Output:
Next step is to iterate through the interval Im until:
m 1 m
W
i 1
MME ,i random WMME ,i
i 0
104 251
Search for registeredMME in set of Search for Selected PLMN Id in set MME MME
Served GUMMEIs of all active of Served PLMN-Ids of all active not found found
MMEs MME MMEs in set
not found
MME found in set Selected PLMN Several MME found MME not found
not served by MME
Perform MME found
Loadbalancing Release RRC
Selected PLMN served by MME in set
Connection
• First, the MME is excluded from load balancing by setting very low MME weight
factor,
– all new incoming UE calls/requests will be directed to different MMEs within the same pool.
Interdependencies
Technical Details Benefits and Gains
2 Interdependencies with Other Features
Functionality and Implementation, and Functions
Message Flows
5 Simulation, Lab and Field Findings
Configuration Management
3 Parameters
0 (disabled), This parameter activates the support of S1 Flex. This includes the algorithms to distribute S1
Activate Support of S1 Flex actS1Flex 1 connections to several MMEs for example based on routing information provided by UE or by load
1 (enabled)
balancing for those UEs entering an MME pool.
Primary IP address of main This parameter holds the transport network IP address of the Mobility Management Entity (MME)
mainMmeIpAddrPrim 7...15 characters N/A
MME primary interface. Must be configured
This parameter holds the transport network IP address of the Mobility Management Entity (MME)
Secondary IP address of main
mainMmeIpAddrSec 7...15 characters N/A secondary interface. This is read only parameter, passed by MME to eNB during SCTP association
MME
establishment procedure.
List of transport network IP Addresses (IPv4) of up to 15 further MMEs in addition to the Main
MME IP address list mmeIpAddressList 7...15 characters N/A
MME.
Main Code Of MME mmeMainCode 0…255, step 1 N/A MME Code contained in main GUMMEI of the MME
Main group id of main MME mainMmeMainGroupId 0...65535, step 1 N/A Group Id contained in main GUMMEI of the Main MME
Main MCC of main MME mainMmeMainMcc 0…999, step 1 N/A Mobile Country Code contained in main GUMMEI of the Main MME
Interdependencies
Technical Details Benefits and Gains
2 Interdependencies with Other Features
Functionality and Implementation, and Functions
Message Flows
5 Simulation, Lab and Field Findings
Configuration Management
3 Parameters
• S1 flex feature is about load balancing in the Core Network, in particular about balancing UE contexts
across a pool of MMEs.
• It assures multi-connection towards several MMEs and if one MME fails, all connections handled by it
are released. UEs must reconnect to network in order to be assigned to another MME from pool.
• It is not a redundancy feature and not at all for any kind of hot/standby solutions. Following example of
scenario is not possible with this feature:
Scenario:
• Two MMEs in different geographical locations
• eNB should connect to closer MME
(i.e. if eNB from group A is closer to the MME#1,
it should connect to this one)
• In case of MME failure, second one acts as
redundant node
Interdependencies
Technical Details Benefits and Gains
2 Interdependencies with Other Features
Functionality and Implementation, and Functions
Message Flows
5 Simulation, Lab and Field Findings
Configuration Management
3 Parameters
• Resilience:
Using multiple MMEs within a single pool area increases the service availability (another MME can be
selected if the primary MME is not available).
• Load distribution:
MME selection from the MME pool is done on the basis of the traffic load.
• Continuous service:
Network upgrade and maintenance work are possible without disturbing the traffic. Also the overload
probability is reduced.
• Scalability:
Capacity extension by adding new MME to the pool can be done without network reconfiguration.
• Reduced load at core network:
Signaling load is reduced in case of MME change done within one MME pool